Aetna To Pay More Than $17 Million To Resolve 2 Privacy Breaches

Aetna inked settlement agreements with several states, including New Jersey, to resolve disclosures of sensitive patient information. According to an announcement by the Attorney General for New Jersey, the settlement agreements resolve:

"... a multi-state investigation focused on two separate privacy breaches by Aetna that occurred in 2017 – one involving a mailing that potentially revealed information about addressees’ HIV/AIDS status, the other involving a mailing that potentially revealed individuals’ involvement in a study of patients with atrial fibrillation (or AFib)..."

Connecticut, Washington, and the District of Columbia joined with New Jersey for both the  investigation and settlement agreements. The multi-state investigation found:

"... that Aetna inadvertently disclosed HIV/AIDS-related information about thousands of individuals across the U.S. – including approximately 647 New Jersey residents – through a third-party mailing on July 28, 2017. The envelopes used in the mailing had an over-sized, transparent glassine address window, which revealed not only the recipients’ names and addresses, but also text that included the words “HIV Medications"... The second breach occurred in September 2017 and involved a mailing sent to 1,600 individuals concerning a study of patients with AFib. The envelopes for the mailing included the name and logo for the study – IMPACT AFib – which could have been interpreted as indicating that the addressee had an AFib diagnosis... Aetna not only violated the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), but also state laws pertaining to the protected health information of individuals in general, and of persons with AIDS or HIV infection in particular..."

A class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of affected HIV/AIDS patients has been settled, pending approval from a federal court, which requires Aetna to pay about $17 million to resolve allegations. Terms of the multi-state settlement agreement require Aetna to pay a $365,211.59 civil penalty to New Jersey, and:

• Implement policy, processes, and employee training reforms to both better protect persons' protected health information, and ensure mailings maintain persons' privacy; and
• Hire an independent consultant to evaluate and report on its privacy protection practices, and to monitor its compliance with the terms of the settlement agreements.

In December of last year, CVS Health and Aetna announced a merger agreement where CVS Health acquired Aetna for about $69 billion. Last week, CVS Health announced an expansion of its board of directors to include the addition of three directors from its Aetna unit. At press time, neither company's website mentioned the multi-state settlement agreement.