Jones Eye Center, P.C.

Jones Eye Center, P.C., the covered entity (CE), reported that its business associate (BA) was the victim of a ransomware attack that affected the electronic protected health information (ePHI) of 39,605 individuals. The ePHI involved included names, addresses, birthdates, Social Security numbers, clinical information, financial and claims information, diagnoses, and other treatment information. The CEs notified HHS, affected individuals, and the media. In its mitigation efforts, the CE limited the amount of sensitive data available to its BA and implemented new administrative, technical, and security safeguards to better protect its ePHI. All staff were retrained. OCR provided technical assistance regarding the HIPAA Rules.