Consent Judgment filed in first-ever multistate HIPAA-related data breach lawsuit

Attorney General Doug Peterson announced today that Nebraska and a group of 15 other states have filed a Consent Judgment negotiated by the states’ attorneys general and Medical Informatics Engineering, Inc.  This case was the nation’s first-ever multistate lawsuit involving a HIPAA-related data breach. The lawsuit, led by Indiana, was first filed in December of 2018 against a web-based electronic health records company based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The company allegedly sustained a data breach compromising the data of more than 3.9 million people.

Following the judge’s approval of the Consent Judgment, the 16 states will receive a payment of $900,000. 

The lawsuit resolved allegations that Medical Informatics Engineering Inc. and NoMoreClipboard LLC (collectively “MIE”) violated provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) as well as state claims including Unfair and Deceptive Practice laws, Notice of Data Breach statutes, and state Personal Information Protection Acts.

Between May 7, 2015, and May 26, 2015, hackers infiltrated WebChart, a web application run by MIE. The hackers stole the electronic Protected Health Information (“ePHI”) of more than 3.9 million individuals – including individual names, telephone numbers, mailing addresses, usernames, hashed passwords, security questions and answers, spousal information (name and potentially dates of birth), email addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, lab results, health insurance policy information, diagnosis, disability codes, doctors’ names, medical conditions, and children’s names and birth statistics.    

Attorney General Peterson stated, “Federal and state privacy laws provide a standard that companies must meet when they store or maintain the personal information of consumers.  Failure to do so will result in outcomes similar to those in this case.  I encourage entities to take proactive steps to protect the sensitive personal information of consumers.”

To obtain information about how to protect yourself as a consumer, file a consumer complaint, or report a scam, please visit the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office, Consumer Protection Division website at www.protectthegoodlife.nebraska.gov or call (800) 727-6432.

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Please click the link to find Consent Judgment: https://bit.ly/2YQ0tYx