Hospice of the Piedmont

The covered entity (CE), Hospice of the Piedmont, reported that several employees were the victims of an email phishing scheme that affected the protected health information (PHI) of 10,682 individuals. The PHI involved included Social Security numbers, drivers’ license numbers, passport numbers, financial and health insurance information, diagnoses, and other treatment information. The CE notified HHS, affected individuals, the media, and provided substitute notice. In its mitigation efforts, the CE offered the affected individuals free credit monitoring and implemented additional administrative and technical safeguards to better protect its PHI. In addition, the CE retrained its workforce members on the proper methods of identifying fraudulent email communications.