Vision Care Florida

The covered entity (CE), Vision Care Florida, LLC, discovered that on September 21, 2016, its server was infected with a ransomware virus after an employee opened an email attachment. The CE’s server contained patients' demographic information including the names, dates of birth, and addresses of 7,500 individuals. The CE provided breach notification to HHS, affected individuals, and the media. OCR provided technical assistance to the CE regarding the Breach Notification Rule and documentation of training. In response to the breach, the CE changed its policies and procedures regarding its information security and included security training concerning malicious software. The CE removed its computer server from the Internet immediately, upgraded to a business firewall, implemented a cloud based backup, and strengthened its passwords. Additionally, the CE retrained its workforce and disseminated security reminders. OCR obtained assurances that the CE implemented the corrective actions listed above.