LSU Healthcare Network

An unencrypted, external computer hard drive containing the electronic protected health information (ePHI) of 2,200 individuals was stolen from the covered entity’s (CE) business associate (BA), LSU Health Sciences Center, in New Orleans. The ePHI included demographic and clinical information used by the Department of Neurology Research. The CE provided breach notification to HHS, affected individuals, and the media. Following the breach, the CE required the researcher at the BA to receive HIPAA retraining and limited her access to ePHI to “view only” mode. OCR obtained assurances that the CE implemented the corrective actions listed above.