HHS OCR breach portal (HIPAA breaches affecting 500 or more individuals) Primary notice
Posted on the HHS Office for Civil Rights breach portal with a submission date of Jan. 25, 2019.
- Organization as reported
- HealthFitness, IL
- Entity type as reported
- Business Associate
- Category as reported
Unauthorized Access/Disclosure
- Location of information as reported
- Other
- Submission date
- Jan. 25, 2019
- Observed by BreachRecords
- 2026-10-18 16:15 UTC (revision 13559, row:4698)
- Archived copy
- Held in the private archive (provenance)
Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a settlement with Health Fitness Corporation, located in Illinois, that provides wellness plans to clients across the country, resolving a potential violation under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Security Rule. OCR enforces the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules, which set forth the requirements that covered entities (health plans, health care clearinghouses, and most health care providers), and business associates must follow to protect the privacy and security of protected health information (PHI). The HIPAA Security Rule establishes national standards to protect and secure our health care system by requiring administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, availability, and security of electronic PHI (ePHI). The “Risk Analysis provision” requires a regulated organization to conduct an accurate and thorough assessment of the potential risks and vulnerabilities to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of ePHI held by that organization. The settlement marks the fifth enforcement action in OCR’s Risk Analysis Initiative. This enforcement initiative was created to focus select investigations on compliance with the HIPAA Security Rule Risk Analysis provision, a key Security Rule requirement, and the foundation for effective cybersecurity and the protection of ePHI and to highlight the critical need for organizations to prioritize compliance with this foundational HIPAA Security Rule requirement. The settlement resolves OCR’s investigation of Health Fitness, which OCR initiated after receiving four reports from Health Fitness, over a three-month period of breaches of unsecured protected health information. Health Fitness filed the breach reports on behalf of multiple covered entities as their business associate. Health Fitness reported that beginning…