Lawsuit cites HIPAA violation
HIPAA Weekly Advisor, November 6, 2006
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A man is suing The Sisters of St. Francis Health Services Inc., an Indiana-based hospital system, over a July security breach that put about 260,000 patients at risk of identity theft, the Associated Press (AP) reports. Michael Chaney claims in the class-action suit that Sisters of St. Francis violated HIPAA and did not adequately mitigate the breach. He is seeking damages of $5,000 for each person affected by the breach.
The breach occurred when a billing-contractor employee copied patients' personal information onto compact discs and put them in a bag to bring home. The employee then brought the bag to a local store and exchanged it for a different one, leaving the discs inside. Three days later, a customer bought the bag containing the discs and turned them in.
"We thoroughly investigated that matter and believe it is extremely unlikely that the personal records, including the names and Social Security numbers of the affected individuals, were accessed, used or disclosed for any unauthorized purposes," said Michael Englehart, the vice president of revenue cycle management with The Sisters of St. Francis.
Click here to read the AP article.
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