Northwest Community Healthcare

On April 18, 2016, a business associate (BA) notified the covered entity, Northwest Community Healthcare, that it left a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) port open and unsecured, which led to the exposure of patients' protected health information (PHI) on the internet. Approximately 540 individuals were affected by the breach which included patients’ names, addresses, dates of birth, and social security numbers. The CE suspended its relationship with the BA and required it to destroy all of the CE's patient information that it had in its possession. The CE provided breach notification to HHS and affected individuals. OCR obtained documented assurances that the CE implemented the corrective actions listed above.