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 Dec. 3, 2020.
- Organization as reported
- Regional Women's Health Group, LLC d/b/a Sincera Reproductive Medicine, PA
- Entity type as reported
- Healthcare Provider
- Category as reported
Hacking/IT Incident
- Location of information as reported
- Network Server
- Submission date
- Dec. 3, 2020
- Observed by BreachRecords
- 2026-10-18 16:15 UTC (revision 12473, row:3612)
- 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 settlements with four regulated entities following separate ransomware investigations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Security Rule. Ransomware is malicious software that blocks access to data—typically by encrypting it with a key known only to the attacker—until a ransom is paid. The resolutions announced mark 19 completed investigations from ransomware breaches and 13 completed investigations in OCR’s Risk Analysis Initiative. 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, security, and availability of electronic PHI (ePHI). The Risk Analysis provision requires regulated organizations (covered entities and business associates) to conduct an accurate and thorough assessment of the potential risks and vulnerabilities to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of ePHI held by those organizations. The settlements follow investigations into separate ransomware breaches that collectively affected over 427,000 individuals and involved the exposure of unsecured ePHI. The types of ePHI affected include demographic data, Social Security numbers (SSNs), financial information, lab results, medications, and diagnoses or conditions. Under the settlements, the regulated entities have agreed to implement corrective action plans subject to OCR monitoring for two years and paid a total of $1,165,000 to OCR. Today’s announcement covers settlements with the…