This blog series has been following breaches of Protected Health Information (“PHI”) that have been reported on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) list (the “HHS List”) of breaches of unsecured PHI affecting 500 or more individuals (the “List Breaches”). Currently HHS has posted 498 List Breaches reported by covered entities (“CEs”), of which approximately 102 (20.5%) have been reported as also involving business associates (“BAs”).  

As stated in an earlier posting in this blog series, the HHS List includes valuable guidance for CEs and BAs in the form of “brief summaries of the breach cases that OCR [the federal Office of Civil Rights] has investigated and closed. . . .” To date, the HHS List has posted approximately 96 summaries (“Summaries”) respecting the 498 current postings for CE marchers in the Breach Parade (which include some multiple postings of List Breaches where a single alleged breach by a BA caused a number of CEs to have List Breaches). Of the 96 List Breaches for which Summaries have been posted by OCR, 19 (19.8%) were reported as involving BAs.  

 

Unfortunately, since May 10, 2012, it would appear that only one new Summary has been posted by OCR, which relates to List Breach number 337 reported by Indiana University School of Optometry as CE. According to the OCR Summary, that List Breach affected 757 individuals and resulted in accessibility over the Internet of patient names, birth dates, medical history, diagnoses and treatment plans for the period from August 8, 2011 through September 9, 2011.  

 

No Summary has been posted by OCR for any List Breach that occurred later than October 6, 2011, already a year ago. Additionally, no Summary has been posted by OCR for any List Breach involving a BA that occurred later than February 1, 2011, as discussed in an earlier posting in this blog series. 

 

Moreover, the substantial majority of Summaries posted by OCR relate to List Breaches affecting fewer than 10,000 persons. While this Summary history may be reflective of the population of List Breaches as discussed in an earlier post in this blog series, the largest number of affected individuals for which a Summary has been posted to date is 83,000. That List Breach, which occurred on November 12, 2009 and was number 21 on the HHS List, related to unauthorized access/disclosure of paper information and was reported by Universal American in New York as the CE with Democracy Data & Communications, LLC as an involved BA. In light of the existence of complex List Breaches that reportedly affect hundreds of thousands or even millions of individuals, Summaries respecting larger List Breaches may be helpful in providing new and different insights for CEs and BAs.

 

There is great value in the guidance provided by the posted Summaries for educating CEs and BAs as to what OCR may deem to be significant with respect to List Breaches. OCR Summaries may provide analysis not only of the List Breaches themselves but also subsequent actions taken by the affected CEs and BAs. However, because the paucity of recent postings of Summaries can dampen their overall educational benefit, OCR is encouraged to increase the frequency, number, currentness and diversity of the Summaries posted.