Colorado Physician Partners

The covered entity (CE), Colorado Physician Partners, reported that an employee was the victim of an email phishing attack affecting the protected health information (PHI) of 12,877 individuals. The PHI involved included names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses, diagnoses, medications prescribed, and financial and other treatment information. The CE notified HHS, affected individuals, the media, and provided substitute notice. In response to the breach, the CE provided complimentary credit monitoring services and implemented additional administrative and technical safeguards. The staff were retrained on email security. OCR provided technical assistance regarding the HIPAA Security Rule.