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 6, 2023.
- Organization as reported
- Northeast Surgical Group, PC, MI
- Entity type as reported
- Healthcare Provider
- Category as reported
Hacking/IT Incident
- Location of information as reported
- Network Server
- Submission date
- March 6, 2023
- Observed by BreachRecords
- 2026-10-18 16:15 UTC (revision 10879, row:2018)
- 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 Northeast Surgical Group, P.C. (NESG), a provider of surgical services in Michigan, for 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, and security of electronic PHI. The settlement resolves an investigation concerning a ransomware attack on NESG’s information system. “One of the first steps in implementing effective cybersecurity in health care is assessing the potential risks and vulnerabilities to electronic protected health information,” said OCR Director Melanie Fontes Rainer. “A failure to conduct a HIPAA risk analysis will leave a health care entity vulnerable to cyberattacks, such as hacking and ransomware—which is bad for our health care system and bad for patients. We can and must do better.” Ransomware and hacking are the primary cyberthreats in health care. Ransomware is a type of malware (malicious software) designed to deny access to a user’s data, usually by encrypting the data with a key known only to the hacker who deployed the malware, until a ransom is paid. Since 2018, there has been a 264% increase in large breaches reported to OCR involving ransomware attacks. The settlement also marks the fourth enforcement action in OCR's Risk Analysis Initiative. This enforcement initiative was created to focus select investigations on compliance with the HIPAA…