County of Los Angeles

The covered entity (CE), County of Los Angeles, reported that on April 3, 2015, during the execution of a search warrant at the home of a an individual who was employed at the County Department of Health Services (DHS) LAC+USC Medical Center, Hawkins Mental Health Center (Hawkins), in a matter unrelated to County business, law enforcement discovered and seized items that contained confidential patient information for approximately 880 Hawkins patients, treated between 2011 and 2015. The types of protected health information (PHI) involved in the breach included financial, demographic, and clinical information. The CE provided breach notification to HHS, affected individuals, and the media. Following the breach, the CE sanctioned the involved employee and terminated the employee’s electronic and information technology access, as well as physical access to DHS’ systems. DHS provided in-service HIPAA training to Hawkins’ staff. OCR obtained assurances that the CE implemented the corrective actions listed. The employee resigned following the breach incident.