los angeles - a former ucla healthcare system employee who admitted to illegally reading private and confidential medical records, mostly from celebrities and other high-profile patients, was sentenced today to four months in federal prison.
huping zhou, 47, of los angeles, was sentenced this afternoon by united states magistrate judge andrew j. wistrich, who condemned zhou for his lack of respect for patient privacy.
zhou pleaded guilty in january to four misdemeanor counts of violating the federal privacy provisions of the health insurance portability and accountability act (hipaa). zhou specifically admitted to knowingly obtaining individually identifiable health information without a valid reason, medical or otherwise.
zhou is the first person in the nation to be convicted and incarcerated for misdemeanor hipaa offenses for merely accessing confidential records without a valid reason or authorization
