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 March 13, 2017.
- Organization as reported
- Local 693 Plumbers & Pipefitters Health & Welfare Fund, VT
- Entity type as reported
- Health Plan
- Category as reported
Theft
- Location of information as reported
- Other Portable Electronic Device
- Submission date
- March 13, 2017
- Observed by BreachRecords
- 2026-10-18 16:15 UTC (revision 14242, row:5381)
- Archived copy
- Held in the private archive (provenance)
On January 23, 2017, a break-in occurred at the office of Local 693 Health & Welfare Fund, the covered entity (CE), an employee welfare benefit program, and an external computer hard drive containing the electronic protected health information (ePHI) of approximately 1,291 individuals was stolen. The ePHI included names, addresses, phone numbers and social security numbers. OCR’s investigation revealed that the drive contained some technical safeguards that made the risk of further disclosure low. As a result of OCR’s investigation, the CE implemented several new physical and technical safeguards and provided a call-center for affected individuals. The CE timely notified OCR, the media and affected individuals or their next-of-kin.