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. 11, 2017.
- Organization as reported
- University of South Florida, USF Health Care, FL
- Entity type as reported
- Healthcare Provider
- Category as reported
Unauthorized Access/Disclosure
- Location of information as reported
- Paper/Films
- Submission date
- Dec. 11, 2017
- Observed by BreachRecords
- 2026-10-18 16:15 UTC (revision 13975, row:5114)
- Archived copy
- Held in the private archive (provenance)
University of South Florida Health, the covered entity (CE), reported that participants in a clinical trial coordinated by its TrialNet Coordination Center received the protected health information (PHI) of other participants. The breach affected 1,279 individuals. The misdirected PHI included patients’ names, names of patients’ family members, family medical histories, and mailing addresses. The CE provided breach notification to HHS and the affected individuals. Media notification was not required, as less than 500 individuals in a single geographic region were affected by the breach. Following the breach, the CE adopted and implemented a new procedure for printing and mailing documents containing PHI. The CE provided HIPAA training to all staff members in its TrialNet Coordination Center and implemented a process to inform supervisors when workforce members’ annual HIPAA training is due. The CE also sanctioned the employees responsible for the breach and for ensuring the responsible employee received HIPAA training. OCR obtained assurances that the CE implemented the corrective actions noted above.