New York Leads Four-State Settlement With Perry Johnson Companies Over Breach Exposing 13.3 Million Patients' Records
The attorneys general of New York, Connecticut, Michigan and New Jersey announced on November 6 a settlement with the Perry Johnson companies over a March 2023 data breach that exposed records tied to more than 13.3 million people. The companies provided coding, billing and medical transcription services to health care organizations, and the exposed records included names, dates of birth, home addresses, Social Security numbers, hospital account numbers, diagnoses, insurance information and clinical details such as laboratory and diagnostic test results and medication names.
Under the agreement announced by the New York attorney general's office, the five companies will pay up to $10 million. A guaranteed $300,000 in penalties and costs is due within 14 days of the agreement taking effect, with New York receiving at least $100,000 and Connecticut receiving $66,666. The remaining $9.7 million is suspended and becomes due only if the companies violate the agreement or if the New York attorney general finds their statements about their finances were materially inaccurate. The settlement is paid to the states; there is no claims process for affected patients.
The settlement covers five companies: Perry Johnson & Associates, Perry Johnson Inc., its coding and radiology units, and Medical Transcription and Coding Inc. According to the settlement agreement, four of the five companies are insolvent and inactive.
No hacker or group has been named in the attorneys general's releases, and the releases do not say whether the stolen records were misused for identity theft or fraud. The New York attorney general's office has reached a series of health data settlements this year, securing $2.7 million from a pediatric health network and IT company in October, $2.3 million and reforms from Labcorp in September, and $18 million from 23andMe in July. (Source: New York State Attorney General)
Source: New York State Attorney General
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图片来源：Wikimedia Commons「Albany.jpg」（Karthikc123 摄，Public domain） Image: Wikimedia Commons "Albany.jpg" (by Karthikc123, Public domain)
