Breach filing
ArchivedSaltzer Health: 15,650 individuals, Nov 2021.
Saltzer Health reported a breach of unsecured protected health information to the HHS Office for Civil Rights on 19 November 2021. The filing records the organisation as a healthcare provider in Idaho and lists 15,650 individuals affected, which makes it the 9th largest of the 29 Idaho filings on the register and the 248th largest of the 715 filings submitted nationally in 2021. Among the 2 Idaho filings made in 2021 it ranks 2nd.
Individuals affected
15,650
As reported to HHS
Modelled cost (IBM 2025)
$2.50M
Method shown, not disclosed
Rank in ID
9th
of 29 Idaho filings
Rank in 2021
248th
of 715 filings nationally
Section F.1 / The filing
As posted by HHS OCR
Every value below is the portal's own field for this filing, plus its rank within the register.
- Covered entity type
- Healthcare Provider
- Individuals affected
- 15,650
- Breach submission date
- 19 November 2021
- Submission year
- 2021
- Type of breach
- Hacking/IT Incident
- Location of breached information
- Business associate present
- No
- State
- Idaho (ID)
- Portal status
- listed in the HHS OCR breach portal archive
- Rank in Idaho by size
- 9th of 29
- Rank in 2021 nationally
- 248th of 715
- Idaho median filing
- 5,500 individuals
- Register id (derived)
- ID-20211119-saltzer-health
Section F.2 / In context
Where this filing sits in Idaho and in 2021
OCR classifies the incident as a hacking or IT incident, with the breached information held in email. Hacking/IT Incident is the type recorded on 20 of the 29 Idaho filings (69%) and on 76% of all filings submitted in 2021. Email appears on 34% of Idaho filings.
No business associate is recorded on the filing; 28% of Idaho filings do involve one. At 15,650 individuals the breach is 2.8 times the Idaho median filing of 5,500 and 3.9 times the national median of 4,000 across all 7,884 filings. It sits in the 10,000 to 99,999 band, which holds 1,938 filings.
As of 28 August 2026 the case is listed in the HHS OCR breach portal archive. OCR's closing summary of the case is reproduced in full below.
Idaho's breach notification statute (Idaho Code 28-51-104 et seq.) requires notice to affected residents as soon as possible, without unreasonable delay. Its attorney general threshold: government agencies only (no requirement for commercial entities). The HIPAA Breach Notification Rule ran alongside it: notice to affected individuals and to HHS without unreasonable delay and no later than 60 days after discovery, which is the clock that put this filing on the portal.
Multiplying 15,650 individuals by IBM's $160 customer-PII cost per record (Cost of a Data Breach 2025, the figure the site's calculator uses) gives a modelled $2.50M; the 2026 edition's $192 gives $3.00M. Both are modelled estimates with the method shown, not costs disclosed by Saltzer Health. For scale, IBM's 2026 average cost of a healthcare breach is $6.64M, so this filing models at 0.5 times the sector average.
Section F.3 / OCR closing summary
The portal's archived description, in full
Written by the Office for Civil Rights when the case was closed and reproduced verbatim from the HHS export.
The covered entity (CE), Saltzer Health, reported that an employee was the victim of an email phishing attack affecting the protected health information (PHI) of 15,650 individuals. The PHI involved included names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, diagnoses/conditions, and other treatment information. The CE notified HHS, affected individuals, the media, and provided substitute notice on its website. In response to the breach, the CE implemented additional technical safeguards, revised its policies and procedures, and retrained its employees. During the investigation, OCR provided the CE with technical assistance.
Section F.5 / Modelled cost
15,650 individuals through IBM's per-record figures
Modelled cost / method shown, not a disclosed cost
ModelledIBM 2025 customer PII, $160 per record
$2.50M
15,650 x $160
IBM 2026 customer PII, $192 per record
$3.00M
15,650 x $192
Method: individuals affected, as reported by Saltzer Health to HHS, multiplied by IBM's customer-PII cost per record (Cost of a Data Breach 2025 Figure 6 and the 2026 edition). No cost has been disclosed by the entity for this filing; the figure is a planning estimate, not a fact about the breach. IBM's per-record figures come from mid-volume breaches and IBM cautions against applying them to breaches involving millions of records; the site's per-record page explains where the multiplication holds and where it breaks down.
Context: IBM's average cost of a healthcare breach is $6.64M in the 2026 report ($7.42M in 2025); the global average across all sectors was $4.44M in 2025.
Cost per record: method and limits / Healthcare breach cost, IBM 2026
Section F.6 / Notification clock
Idaho statute and the HIPAA rule
State notification statute
Idaho: Idaho Code 28-51-104 et seq.
- Notice to individuals
- As soon as possible, without unreasonable delay
- Attorney general threshold
- Government agencies only (no requirement for commercial entities) (Government agencies: within 24 hours of discovery)
- Private right of action
- No: No direct individual lawsuits; AG and primary regulators enforce
- Penalty
- Up to $25,000 per breach for intentional failure to notify
The HIPAA Breach Notification Rule runs alongside the state statute: notice to affected individuals and to HHS without unreasonable delay and no later than 60 days after discovery.
Section F.7 / Peer filings
Idaho filings closest in size
Neighbours by size rank among Idaho filings in 2021, topped up from other years where 2021 has too few. Filings of 10,000 or more link to their own page.
| Covered entity | Type | Individuals | Submitted | Breach type | Location | BA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint Alphonsus Health System | Healthcare Provider | 134,906 | 4 Mar 2021 | |||
| Lakeside Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, PLLCOpen | Healthcare Provider | 34,154 | 27 Feb 2026 | |||
| St. Luke's Health System, Ltd. | Healthcare Provider | 31,573 | 2 Aug 2022 | |||
| St. Luke's Health System, Ltd. | Healthcare Provider | 15,246 | 6 Apr 2023 | |||
| Larsen Dental Care LLC | Healthcare Provider | 6,900 | 18 Apr 2014 |
Index / Companion schedules
13 HHS breach register
→Hub: every filing, by state, year and entity.
04 Biggest breaches
→Mega-breaches with primary-source cost figures.
Industry / Healthcare
→IBM 2026: $6.64M average, 13 years at #1.
Regulation / HIPAA penalties
→OCR enforcement tiers and the 60-day rule.
11 50-state laws
→Deadline, AG threshold and penalties per state.
Cost / Per record
→Where the per-record model is reliable.
Provenance
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, Breach Portal (breaches affecting 500 or more individuals), retrieved 2026-08-28. Public domain. Individuals affected and dates as reported by the covered entity.
Portal: ocrportal.hhs.gov breach report. Statutory basis: HITECH Act section 13402(e)(4): the Secretary must post a list of breaches of unsecured protected health information affecting 500 or more individuals. Breaches affecting fewer than 500 individuals are reported to OCR annually and are not posted, so they are not on this register. Status wording follows the portal's two tabs ("Cases Currently Under Investigation" and "Archive") as of 28 August 2026; a filing moves to the archive when OCR closes the case. Modelled costs on this site are a method applied to the reported count, using IBM Cost of a Data Breach per-record figures, and are never a cost disclosed by the entity. This row: hhs-breach-archive__2026-08-28.csv, export row 2820.
Corrections: if you represent a listed entity and the portal row has been amended, email [email protected] with the portal entry and we will re-pull the export.