HHS OCR breach portal (HIPAA breaches affecting 500 or more individuals) Primary notice
Posted on the HHS OCR breach portal (HIPAA breaches affecting 500 or more individuals) with a submission date of March 15, 2019.
- Organization as reported
- L.A. Care Health Plan, CA
- Entity type as reported
- Health Plan
- Category as reported
Unauthorized Access/Disclosure
- Location of information as reported
- Paper/Films
- Submission date
- March 15, 2019
- Observed by BreachRecords
- 2026-10-18 16:15 UTC (revision 13499, row:4638)
- Archived copy
- Held in the private archive (provenance)
Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a settlement of potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Rules with LA Care, the nation's largest publicly operated health plan that provides health care benefits and coverage through state, federal, and commercial programs. OCR enforces the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules that set the requirements that HIPAA-regulated entities must follow to protect the privacy and security of protected health information (PHI). The settlement concludes two OCR investigations initiated from a large breach report and a media article regarding a separate security incident. Under the agreement, LA Care agreed to pay $1,300,000 and to implement a corrective action plan, discussed in further detail below, which identifies steps LA Care will take to resolve these potential violations of the HIPAA Security Rule and protect the security of electronic protected health information (ePHI). “Breaches of protected health information by a HIPAA-regulated entity often reveal systemic, noncompliance with the HIPAA Rules,” said OCR Director Melanie Fontes Rainer. “HIPAA-regulated entities need to be proactive in ensuring their compliance with the HIPAA Rules, and not wait for OCR to reveal long-standing HIPAA deficiencies. Entities must protect the health information of its insureds while providing health care for the most vulnerable residents of Los Angeles County through its coverage, which includes Medicaid, Medicare, and Affordable Care Act health plans.” The potential violations in this case included: • failure to conduct an accurate and thorough risk analysis to determine risks and vulnerabilities to ePHI across the organization, • failure to implement security measures sufficient to reduce risks and vulnerabilities to ePHI to a reasonable and appropriate level, • failure to implement sufficient procedures to regularly review…