Breach filing
ArchivedUniversity Gastroenterology, Inc.: 15,478 individuals, Sep 2016.
University Gastroenterology, Inc. reported a breach of unsecured protected health information to the HHS Office for Civil Rights on 8 September 2016. The filing records the organisation as a healthcare provider in Rhode Island and lists 15,478 individuals affected, which makes it the 8th largest of the 41 Rhode Island filings on the register and the 63rd largest of the 328 filings submitted nationally in 2016. Among the 2 Rhode Island filings made in 2016 it ranks 1st.
Individuals affected
15,478
As reported to HHS
Modelled cost (IBM 2025)
$2.48M
Method shown, not disclosed
Rank in RI
8th
of 41 Rhode Island filings
Rank in 2016
63rd
of 328 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
- 15,478
- Breach submission date
- 8 September 2016
- Submission year
- 2016
- Type of breach
- Hacking/IT Incident
- Location of breached information
- Network Server
- Business associate present
- No
- State
- Rhode Island (RI)
- Portal status
- listed in the HHS OCR breach portal archive
- Rank in Rhode Island by size
- 8th of 41
- Rank in 2016 nationally
- 63rd of 328
- Rhode Island median filing
- 4,000 individuals
- Register id (derived)
- RI-20160908-university-gastroenterology
Section F.2 / In context
Where this filing sits in Rhode Island and in 2016
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 16 of the 41 Rhode Island filings (39%) and on 35% of all filings submitted in 2016. Network Server appears on 41% of Rhode Island filings.
No business associate is recorded on the filing; 17% of Rhode Island filings do involve one. At 15,478 individuals the breach is 3.9 times the Rhode Island median filing of 4,000 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.
Rhode Island's breach notification statute (R.I. Gen. Laws Ch. 11-49.3) requires notice to affected residents within 45 calendar days after confirmation of the breach (30 days for government agencies). Its attorney general threshold: 500 or more Rhode Island 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 15,478 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 $2.48M; the 2026 edition's $192 gives $2.97M. Both are modelled estimates with the method shown, not costs disclosed by University Gastroenterology, Inc.. For scale, IBM's 2026 average cost of a healthcare breach is $6.64M, so this filing models at 0.4 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.
An unauthorized person gained access to the covered entity's (CE) electronic file storage system. The breach affected 15,478 individuals' protected health information (PHI) and included patients' names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers, and medical billing information. Following the breach, the CE completely dismantled the accessed system. OCR reviewed the CE's policies and procedures for safeguarding PHI, which conform to the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules. The CE provided OCR with assurances that it provided breach notification to affected individuals and the media.
Section F.5 / Modelled cost
15,478 individuals through IBM's per-record figures
Modelled cost / method shown, not a disclosed cost
ModelledIBM 2025 customer PII, $160 per record
$2.48M
15,478 x $160
IBM 2026 customer PII, $192 per record
$2.97M
15,478 x $192
Method: individuals affected, as reported by University Gastroenterology, Inc. 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
Rhode Island statute and the HIPAA rule
State notification statute
Rhode Island: R.I. Gen. Laws Ch. 11-49.3
Identity Theft Protection Act of 2015
- Notice to individuals
- Within 45 calendar days after confirmation of the breach (30 days for government agencies)
- Attorney general threshold
- 500 or more Rhode Island residents (Simultaneously with individual notice)
- Private right of action
- No: No direct individual lawsuits; AG holds exclusive enforcement authority
- Penalty
- Up to $100 per record (reckless) or $200 per record (knowing and willful), no aggregate cap
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
Rhode Island filings closest in size
Neighbours by size rank among Rhode Island filings in 2016, topped up from other years where 2016 has too few. Filings of 10,000 or more link to their own page.
| Covered entity | Type | Individuals | Submitted | Breach type | Location | BA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVS Pharmacy | Healthcare Provider | 26,234 | 24 Jul 2020 | |||
| Lifespan Corporation | Healthcare Provider | 20,431 | 21 Apr 2017 | |||
| Women and Infant's Hospital | Healthcare Provider | 14,004 | 5 Nov 2012 | |||
| CVS Health | Healthcare Provider | 12,914 | 26 Jun 2015 | |||
| CVS Health | Healthcare Provider | 626 | 5 Dec 2016 |
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 5476.
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.