[BreachExchange] Business Associate Failed to Safeguard 3.5 Million Patients’ Medical Records

[Destry Winant]

https://www.natlawreview.com/article/business-associate-failed-to-safeguard-35-million-patients-medical-records

Medical Informatics Engineering, Inc. and its wholly-owned
subsidiaries (MIE) and the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS-OCR) entered into a
$100,000 settlement and two-year corrective action plan to settle
potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act (HIPAA).

On July 23, 2015, MIE filed a HIPAA breach report with HHS-OCR upon
discovering that hackers accessed the electronic protected health
information (ePHI) of approximately 3.5 million individuals. MIE
discovered suspicious activity on one of its servers on May 26, 2015,
and further learned that the hackers gained unauthorized access
beginning May 7, 2015. In addition to determining the impermissible
disclosure of 3.5 million individuals’ ePHI, HHS-OCR further concluded
that MIE failed to conduct an accurate and thorough risk analysis of
its potential risk and vulnerabilities to the confidentiality,
integrity, and availability of its ePHI.

As a reminder, business associates are directly obligated to comply
with the HIPAA Security Rule. Business associates must conduct and
document a risk analysis of their information systems to identify
potential security risks and respond appropriately. Business
associates should also routinely review and update their risk
analyses. HHS-OCR has provided a sample risk assessment tool that is
freely available to covered entities and business associates alike.