There is an update to a data leak incident discovered and reported by independent researcher Jelle Ursem and DataBreaches.net in April 2021. Top Class Actions reports that Med-Data, a business associate that handles health insurance claims data, has agreed to pay $7 million to resolve claims that one of its employees publicly posted patient information on GitHub in 2018 and 2019 and that Med-Data failed to timely notify those affected once they learned of the leak.
As reported previously, Ursem discovered the exposed data on GitHub in 2020, but attempts to engage in responsible disclosure initially failed multiple times, with Med-Data even blocking him on LinkedIn and failing to respond to DataBreaches.net. Eventually, a call to their lawyer got them to take our messages seriously. The exposed data included patients’ names, in combination with one or more of the following data elements: physical address, date of birth, Social Security number, diagnosis, condition, claim information, date of service, subscriber ID (subscriber IDs may be Social Security numbers), medical procedure codes, provider name, and health insurance policy number.
Med-Data’s attempt to clean up their mess hit an unusual obstacle, though: some of the data may have wound up in the Arctic Code Vault.
The incident was reported to HHS in April 2021 by MedData as affecting 135,908 patients. HHS’s note on the incident states:
MedData Incorporated, the business associate (BA), reported that an employee inadvertently published the protected health information (PHI) of 135,908 individuals via the Internet. The PHI involved included names, addresses, birthdates, Social Security numbers, diagnoses/conditions, lab results, medications prescribed, and claims and other treatment information. The BA notified HHS, affected individuals, the media, and posted substitute notice on its website. In response to the breach, the BA implemented additional administrative and technical safeguards to better protect PHI.
MedData is now part of ElevatePFS.
The settlement applies to M.S., et al. v. Med-Data Inc., Case No. 4:22-cv-00187, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Other litigation against Med-Data over the leak had been dismissed by a Kansas federal court who found plaintiffs had not established standing.
Details of the settlement can be found at MedDataSettlement.com.