Breach filing
ArchivedElbowoods Memorial Health Center: 10,000 individuals, Aug 2013.
Elbowoods Memorial Health Center reported a breach of unsecured protected health information to the HHS Office for Civil Rights on 21 August 2013. The filing records the organisation as a health plan in North Dakota and lists 10,000 individuals affected, which makes it the 8th largest of the 19 North Dakota filings on the register and the 42nd largest of the 277 filings submitted nationally in 2013. Among the 2 North Dakota filings made in 2013 it ranks 1st.
Individuals affected
10,000
As reported to HHS
Modelled cost (IBM 2025)
$1.60M
Method shown, not disclosed
Rank in ND
8th
of 19 North Dakota filings
Rank in 2013
42nd
of 277 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
- Health Plan
- Individuals affected
- 10,000
- Breach submission date
- 21 August 2013
- Submission year
- 2013
- Type of breach
- Improper Disposal
- Location of breached information
- Desktop Computer, Other, Other Portable Electronic Device, Paper/Films
- Business associate present
- No
- State
- North Dakota (ND)
- Portal status
- listed in the HHS OCR breach portal archive
- Rank in North Dakota by size
- 8th of 19
- Rank in 2013 nationally
- 42nd of 277
- North Dakota median filing
- 6,457 individuals
- Register id (derived)
- ND-20130821-elbowoods-memorial-health-center
Section F.2 / In context
Where this filing sits in North Dakota and in 2013
OCR classifies the incident as improper disposal, with the breached information held in a desktop computer, another location, another portable electronic device and paper records or films. Improper Disposal is the type recorded on 2 of the 19 North Dakota filings (11%) and on 5% of all filings submitted in 2013. Desktop Computer appears on 5% of North Dakota filings.
No business associate is recorded on the filing; 21% of North Dakota filings do involve one. At 10,000 individuals the breach is 1.5 times the North Dakota median filing of 6,457 and 2.5 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.
North Dakota's breach notification statute (N.D. Cent. Code Ch. 51-30) requires notice to affected residents in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay. Its attorney general threshold: 250 or more North Dakota 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 10,000 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 $1.60M; the 2026 edition's $192 gives $1.92M. Both are modelled estimates with the method shown, not costs disclosed by Elbowoods Memorial Health Center. For scale, IBM's 2026 average cost of a healthcare breach is $6.64M, so this filing models at 0.3 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.
On or about October 1, 2011 contractors discovered abandoned protected health information (PHI) at the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nations' Minne-Tohe facility. Materials included cardboard boxes, file cabinets, and binders containing printed PHI; pharmaceutical bags containing printed PHI on medication containers in a caged area with a broken or open padlock; and twelve (12) computer towers, three (3) mini-sized computers, and a lap-top hard drive containing electronic PHI. The covered entity (CE), discovered an additional binder of PHI on May 15, 2013. The CE estimated that 10,000 individuals' PHI was stored at Minne-Tohe prior to a move to the Elbowoods Memorial Health Center facility. OCR provided the CE with substantial technical assistance. As a result of OCR's investigation, the CE relocated the stored materials to its new facility, conducted a risk analysis, developed a risk management plan, and developed policies and procedures to safeguard PHI.
Section F.5 / Modelled cost
10,000 individuals through IBM's per-record figures
Modelled cost / method shown, not a disclosed cost
ModelledIBM 2025 customer PII, $160 per record
$1.60M
10,000 x $160
IBM 2026 customer PII, $192 per record
$1.92M
10,000 x $192
Method: individuals affected, as reported by Elbowoods Memorial Health Center 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
North Dakota statute and the HIPAA rule
State notification statute
North Dakota: N.D. Cent. Code Ch. 51-30
- Notice to individuals
- In the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay
- Attorney general threshold
- 250 or more North Dakota residents (Same timeline as individual notification)
- Private right of action
- No: Only the North Dakota Attorney General may enforce
- Penalty
- Up to $5,000 per violation under the consumer fraud statute, plus fees and costs
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
North Dakota filings closest in size
Neighbours by size rank among North Dakota filings in 2013, topped up from other years where 2013 has too few. Filings of 10,000 or more link to their own page.
| Covered entity | Type | Individuals | Submitted | Breach type | Location | BA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Healthcare Services | Healthcare Provider | 15,996 | 1 Apr 2023 | |||
| Brady Martz & Associates PC | Business Associate | 13,655 | 17 Jan 2024 | |||
| McKenzie County Healthcare System, Inc. | Healthcare Provider | 8,345 | 16 Feb 2024 | |||
| Family Healthcare Center | Healthcare Provider | 6,457 | 11 Jan 2024 | |||
| Kemmet Dental Design | Healthcare Provider | 2,000 | 12 Nov 2013 |
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 6385.
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.