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. 8, 2023.
- Organization as reported
- VNS CHOICE d/b/a VNS Health Health Plans, NY
- Entity type as reported
- Health Plan
- Category as reported
Hacking/IT Incident
- Location of information as reported
- Submission date
- Dec. 8, 2023
- Observed by BreachRecords
- 2026-10-18 16:15 UTC (revision 10288, row:1427)
- Archived copy
- Held in the private archive (provenance)
The covered entity (CE), VNS Health Health Plans, reported that multiple employees were the subjects of an email phishing scheme that compromised the protected health information (PHI) of 13,584 individuals. The PHI involved included names, addresses, dates of birth, claims information, diagnoses, lab results, medications, and other treatment information. The CE notified HHS, affected individuals, the media, and provided substitute notice. In response to the breach, the CE implemented additional administrative, technical, and security safeguards. Staff were retrained on email security precautions.