As many people left for the weekend or were thinking about holiday shopping, two more HIPAA-covered entities disclosed breaches involving protected health information (PHI): optometry services provider Simon Eye Management and specialty pharmacy services provider BioPlus Specialty Pharmacy Services, LLC.
Neither disclosure, described below, reported any malware or ransomware component to their breaches. By the same token, neither disclosure specifically said that there was no malware or extortion component.
Neither of the incidents described below has yet shown up on HHS’s breach tool and we do not yet have numbers for each report. The BioPlus incident may have large numbers if they are going to be notifying all former and current patients.
Simon Eye Management (“Simon Eye”)
In a notification published yesterday, Simon Eye reports that they first became aware of suspicious activity related to some employee email accounts on June 8. Investigation revealed that there was unauthorized access to accounts between May 12 and May 18. Because the threat actor had access to certain email accounts, Simon Eye is notifying all patients whose information might have been accessible in those accounts.
The following types of information were present in the impacted accounts and therefore potentially viewed or acquired by the unknown actor during this incident: name, address, Social Security number, driver’s license and/or state identification card number, date of birth, financial account information, medical claim information, medical record number, patient account number, medical diagnosis, medical treatment information, and health insurance information.
A fuller notification was mailed to patients for whom Simon Eye had addresses. The notification is also provided at Simon Eye’s website at https://www.simoneye.com/notice-of-data-event/.
Simon Eye does not seem to be offering those notified any complimentary credit monitoring or restoration services.
BioPlus Specialty Pharmacy Services, LLC
In a press release issued yesterday, Florida-based BioPlus Specialty Pharmacy Services, LLC (“BioPlus”) announced it is notifying patients of a recent data security incident.
According to their notification, on November 11, 2021, BioPlus identified suspicious activity in its IT network. An investigation determined that an unauthorized party gained access to its IT network between October 25, 2021 and November 11, 2021. Of note, the investigation could not rule out the possibility that information pertaining to all current and former BioPlus patients may have been subject to unauthorized access.
The information subject to unauthorized access may have included patient names, dates of birth, addresses, medical record numbers, current/former health plan member ID numbers, claims information, diagnoses, and/or prescription information. For certain patients, Social Security numbers were also involved.
For patients whose Social Security number was involved, BioPlus is offering complimentary credit monitoring and identity protection services. BioPlus has also established a dedicated, toll-free call center for patients to call with questions. If a patient believes they are affected but does not receive a letter by January 10, 2022, they can call 1-855-545-2336, available Monday through Friday, between 9:00 am and 6:30 pm, Eastern Time.