Montefiore Medical Center: 12,517 individuals, Jul 2015.

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR), announced a settlement with Montefiore Medical Center, a non-profit hospital system based in New York City for several potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Security Rule. OCR is responsible for administering and enforcing health information privacy, including enforcement of the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules for the health care sector. OCR plays a unique role in serving as the agency at HHS that enforces federal civil rights, privacy and security laws in health care. HIPAA requires that health care providers, insurers and others take steps to protect the privacy and security of patients' protected health information. The $4.75 million monetary settlement and corrective action resolves multiple potential failures by Montefiore Medical Center relating to data security failures by Montefiore that led to an employee stealing and selling patients' protected health information over a six-month period.

"Unfortunately, we are living in a time where cyber-attacks from malicious insiders are not uncommon. Now more than ever, the risks to patient protected health information cannot be overlooked and must be addressed swiftly and diligently," said OCR Director Melanie Fontes Rainer. "This investigation and settlement with Montefiore are an example of how the health care sector can be severely targeted by cyber criminals and thieves-even within their own walls.

Cyber-attacks do not discriminate based on organization size or stature, and it's incumbent that our health care system follow the law to protect patient records."

The action is the latest step by HHS who released a Department-wide Cybersecurity strategy for the health care sector in December of 2023, and released voluntary performance goals to enhance cybersecurity across the health sector just last week.

"Cyber-attacks that are carried out by insiders are one of the many ways that can lead to a security breach, leaving patients vulnerable," said HHS Deputy Secretary Andrea Palm. "Our priority is and always has been improving the quality of health care patients receive. Part of this health care is establishing a trust that medical records will not be exposed. HHS will continue to remind health care systems of their responsibility as providers, which is to have policies and procedures in place to keep patients' medical information secure."

In May 2015, the New York Police Department informed Montefiore Medical Center that there was evidence of theft of a specific patient's medical information. The incident prompted Montefiore Medical Center to conduct an internal investigation. It discovered that two years prior, one of their employees stole the electronic protected health information of 12,517 patients and sold the information to an identity theft ring. Montefiore Medical Center filed a breach report with OCR.

OCR's investigation revealed multiple potential violations of the HIPAA Rules. Under the terms of the settlement, Montefiore Medical Center will pay $4,750,000 to OCR and implement a corrective action plan that identifies certain steps toward protecting and securing the security of protected health information. These actions include:

• Conducting an accurate and thorough assessment;

• Developing a written risk management plan;

• Developing a plan to implement hardware, software, and/or other procedural mechanisms that record and examine activity in all information systems;

• Reviewing and revising written policies and procedures; and

• Providing training to its workforce on HIPAA policies and procedures.

OCR will monitor Montefiore Medical Center for two years to ensure compliance with the law.