Breach filing
ArchivedDes Moines Orthopaedic Surgeons, P.C.: 55,055 individuals, Jan 2024.
Des Moines Orthopaedic Surgeons, P.C. reported a breach of unsecured protected health information to the HHS Office for Civil Rights on 23 January 2024. The filing records the organisation as a business associate in Iowa and lists 55,055 individuals affected, which makes it the 17th largest of the 98 Iowa filings on the register and the 172nd largest of the 741 filings submitted nationally in 2024. Among the 8 Iowa filings made in 2024 it ranks 5th.
Individuals affected
55,055
As reported to HHS
Modelled cost (IBM 2025)
$8.81M
Method shown, not disclosed
Rank in IA
17th
of 98 Iowa filings
Rank in 2024
172nd
of 741 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
- Business Associate
- Individuals affected
- 55,055
- Breach submission date
- 23 January 2024
- Submission year
- 2024
- Type of breach
- Hacking/IT Incident
- Location of breached information
- Network Server
- Business associate present
- Yes
- State
- Iowa (IA)
- Portal status
- listed in the HHS OCR breach portal archive
- Rank in Iowa by size
- 17th of 98
- Rank in 2024 nationally
- 172nd of 741
- Iowa median filing
- 4,336 individuals
- Register id (derived)
- IA-20240123-des-moines-orthopaedic-surgeons-pc
Section F.2 / In context
Where this filing sits in Iowa and in 2024
OCR classifies the incident as a hacking or IT incident, with the breached information held in a network server. Hacking/IT Incident is the type recorded on 66 of the 98 Iowa filings (67%) and on 83% of all filings submitted in 2024. Network Server is the most common location in the state, appearing on 50% of Iowa filings.
A business associate is recorded as present on the filing, as it is on 34% of Iowa filings. At 55,055 individuals the breach is 13 times the Iowa median filing of 4,336 and 14 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.
Iowa's breach notification statute (Iowa Code Ch. 715C) requires notice to affected residents in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay. Its attorney general threshold: 500 or more Iowa residents. 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 55,055 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 $8.81M; the 2026 edition's $192 gives $10.6M. Both are modelled estimates with the method shown, not costs disclosed by Des Moines Orthopaedic Surgeons, P.C.. For scale, IBM's 2026 average cost of a healthcare breach is $6.64M, so this filing models at 1.6 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), Des Moines Orthopaedic Surgeons, P.C., reported that it was the subject of a cybersecurity incident that affected the protected health information (PHI) of 55,055 individuals. The PHI involved included names, addresses, dates of birth, drivers' license numbers, diagnoses/conditions, lab results, medications, and health insurance information. The CE notified HHS, affected individuals, the media, and posted substitute notice on its website. In response to the breach, the CE provided complimentary credit monitoring services to the affected individuals and implemented additional administrative, technical, and security safeguards. Staff were retrained.
Section F.5 / Modelled cost
55,055 individuals through IBM's per-record figures
Modelled cost / method shown, not a disclosed cost
ModelledIBM 2025 customer PII, $160 per record
$8.81M
55,055 x $160
IBM 2026 customer PII, $192 per record
$10.6M
55,055 x $192
Method: individuals affected, as reported by Des Moines Orthopaedic Surgeons, P.C. 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
Iowa statute and the HIPAA rule
State notification statute
Iowa: Iowa Code Ch. 715C
Personal Information Security Breach Protection Act
- Notice to individuals
- In the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay
- Attorney general threshold
- 500 or more Iowa residents (Within five business days after notifying consumers)
- Private right of action
- No: No private right of action; AG enforcement only
- Penalty
- Unlawful practice under the consumer fraud statute; injunctive relief, civil penalties, and damages
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
Iowa filings closest in size
Neighbours by size rank among Iowa filings in 2024, topped up from other years where 2024 has too few. Filings of 10,000 or more link to their own page.
| Covered entity | Type | Individuals | Submitted | Breach type | Location | BA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Anthony Regional Hospital | Healthcare Provider | 139,214 | 25 Oct 2024 | |||
| Radiologic Medical Services, P.C.Open | Healthcare Provider | 56,902 | 12 Nov 2024 | |||
| Crescent Community Health Center | Healthcare Provider | 20,529 | 31 Jan 2024 | |||
| City of Dubuque Fire Department | Healthcare Provider | 1,381 | 14 Feb 2024 |
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 1226.
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.