Roper St. Francis Healthcare

The covered entity (CE), Roper St. Francis Healthcare, reported that it improperly disposed of documents containing the protected health information (PHI) of 1,634 individuals in regular trash cans instead of secured shredding bins. This occurred for approximately two months. The PHI involved included names, diagnoses, lab results, medications prescribed, and other treatment information. The CE reported that some documents were retrieved and properly disposed of once the breach was discovered. However, the CE could not retrieve documents that were disposed of prior to the discovery of this breach incident. The CE notified HHS, affected individuals, and the media. In its mitigation efforts, the CE sanctioned the responsible employee and retrained its staff on the proper methods of safeguarding PHI. The CE also implemented additional physical safeguards to prevent incidents of this nature. During the investigation, OCR provided technical assistance on the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules. OCR obtained assurances that the CE implemented the corrective actions noted.