First Multistate HIPAA-Related Data Breach Lawsuit Filed

Monday, December 3, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced Arizona is joining 11 other states in a federal lawsuit against an Indiana based company Medical Informatics Engineering, Inc. and NoMoreClipboard, LLC, collectively known as MIE, for a 2015 privacy breach which left personal information of millions of medical patients vulnerable to hackers.

MIE is a web-based electronic health record company whose headquarters are located in Fort Wayne, Indiana. According to the press release, this is “the first time state Attorneys General have joined together to pursue a HIPAA-related multistate data breach case in federal court.”

According to authorities, hackers were able to gain access to the information through a web application the company operates known as WebChart. The hackers stole information such as protected health information, names, social security numbers, telephone numbers, usernames, passwords, spousal information, diagnoses, children’s names and birth information, and other personal and identifying information of more than 3.9 million patients.

According to the complaint, MIE failed to implement basic data security measures to prevent breaches, “had an inadequate and ineffective response to the breach”, failed to encrypt personal and sensitive information, and lacked appropriate safeguards to prevent exploitations.

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