California Correctional Health Care Services

On February 9, 2017, the covered entity (CE), California Correctional Health Care Services, reported that its workforce member sent an email and a spreadsheet attachment to a wrong recipient who is an executive liaison to California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and has the same last name as the intended recipient. The CE asked the recipient to delete both the email and attachment. The breach affected the electronic PHI (ePHI) of approximately 738 individuals and included names, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation identification numbers, housing information, mental health related information, and health care providers information. The CE provided breach notification to HHS, affected individuals, and the media. In response to the breach, the CE retrained the involved workforce member and implemented email encryption. The CE also provided OCR with additional documentation including its HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices Policy, as relevant to this breach investigation. OCR obtained assurances that the CE implemented the corrective actions listed above.