Aveanna Healthcare

The covered entity (CE), Aveanna Healthcare, reported that several of its employees were the victims of an email phishing attack that affected the electronic protected health information (ePHI) of 166,077 individuals. The ePHI involved included names, dates of birth, drivers’ license numbers, addresses, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers, clinical information, financial information, and health insurance information. The CE notified HHS, affected individuals, and the media. In response to the breach, the CE implemented additional technical safeguards and retrained its staff on the proper methods of recognizing and responding to fraudulent email communications. OCR provided technical assistance to the CE regarding the Breach Notification Rule and obtained assurances that the CE implemented the corrective actions noted.