ICS Collection Service, Inc. (“ICS”) is a debt collection agency specializing in recovering aged debt from individuals (“debtors”) on behalf of healthcare and commercial entities (“clients” or “creditors”), including University of Chicago Physicians Group (“UCPG”). ICS had previously contracted with UCPG for collection and address verification services. While the contract had been terminated before the potential breach…
Category: Health Data
Burglar snatches laptop with patient medical records from San Jose internist's office
Hankyu Chung, M.D., an internist in San Jose, California, reports that on June 16, there was a burglary at his offices. The burglar was able to gain access to the offices by entering the building complex through an unlocked door and using the crawl space above the office to gain access to it. The burglary…
Advocate breach lawsuit says the group didn't adequately secure data
Mitch Smith reports: Advocate Medical Group, already under federal and state investigation after the theft of computers containing personal information on millions of people, is now facing a class-action lawsuit from patients who say the Downers Grove-based physician group didn’t do enough to protect their private data. The suit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court,…
Proposed settlement in lawsuit over AvMed breach
Main Justice reports that there may be a settlement in the lawsuit over the AvMed breach that affected 1.2 million. As noted in previous coverage on this site, the lawsuit stemmed from the theft of two laptops from the firm’s Gainesville office in Florida in December 2009. Details of the settlement are not yet available,…
FL: Haley volunteer accused of stealing patients’ identities
A volunteer at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital has been accused of stealing patients’ identities and using that information to file fake income tax refunds of about $550,000, according to federal court documents. Ricardo Jacinto Rodriguez, the VA volunteer, and Andropolis Jioberiti Mitchell were indicted last week on charges of embezzlement and fraud. The…
Surgery photo leads to privacy lawsuit against Torrance Memorial
Chad Terhune reports: During surgery at Torrance Memorial Medical Center, an anesthesiologist decorated a patient’s face with stickers while the patient was unconscious — giving her a black mustache and teardrops under her left eye — and then a nurse’s aide snapped her photo. The 2011 incident has prompted a state investigation and a civil…