Associates in Dermatology, PLLC, the covered entity (CE), reported that an employee was the victim of an email phishing schemed that affected the electronic protected health information (ePHI) of 9,020 individuals. The ePHI involved included names, addresses, dates of birth, drivers’ license numbers, Social Security numbers, health insurance information, financial data, treatment information, medications prescribed, and diagnoses. The CE notified HHS, affected individuals, and the media. In its mitigation efforts, the CE implemented additional technical and security safeguards and retrained its staff to better protect its sensitive data. The responsible workforce member was sanctioned. OCR obtained assurances that the CE implemented the aforementioned corrective actions.
