Community Mercy Health Partners

An individual was accidently sent the invoices of numerous patients of the covered entity (CE) due to human error after guarantor information on an institutional account was inadvertently changed to an individual patient. The protected health information (PHI) involved in the breach included the demographic, financial, and clinical information of 1,999 individuals. The CE provided breach notification to HHS, affected individuals, and the media. To prevent a future similar occurrence, the covered entity re-educated its patient access/registration staff and began revising processes for institutional payers. OCR reviewed the CE’s relevant HIPAA policies and procedures and obtained assurances that the CE implemented the corrective actions listed above.