Laborers Funds Administrative Office of Northern California, Inc.

On February 17, 2016, the covered entity (CE), Laborers Funds Administrative Office of Northern California, Inc, discovered that a tax sent to its clients and beneficiaries inadvertently contained protected health information (PHI) about unrelated individuals. The breach affected approximately 800 individuals and included names, social security numbers, and eligibility information. The CE provided breach notification to HHS, affected individuals, and the media. In response to the breach, the CE implemented new technical safeguards for creating and transmitting this type of data, conducted a new/updated security analysis, revised its HIPAA policies and procedures, and trained its workforce. 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.