UPDATE 11-22-2022: W&L’s James Bilsborrow was appointed as Plaintiffs’ Interim Co-Lead Class Counsel for this class action lawsuit.
Weitz & Luxenberg filed a class action lawsuit against Practice Resources, LLC, a medical billing services provider based in Syracuse, New York. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of hundreds of thousands of people who had their medical information stolen by cyber thieves in a significant data breach. More than 940,000 people are feeling the impact.
W&L attorneys filed the suit on behalf of patients of various healthcare providers. All the patients are believed to have had their confidential information compromised in the breach. The data breach occurred on April 12, 2022. We filed suit in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York, at the end of August 2022.
You May Be a Victim of Identity Theft
Practice Resources is a medical billing and practice management company that provides billing, coding, credentialing, information technology, administrative, and human resources support services to health care professionals. However, Practice Resources “lost control of its clients’ patients’ highly sensitive” private and medical information due to hacking by cybercriminals.
The stolen information includes:
- Names.
- Home addresses,
- Dates of treatment.
- Health plan numbers.
- Medical record numbers.
Instead of notifying people about the incident right away, Practice Resources waited until August 4 to “begin to issue notice to affected persons.”
Practice Resources Did Not Safeguard Your Information
In the class action lawsuit, W&L claims the data breach “was a direct result of Defendant’s failure to implement and to maintain adequate and reasonable cybersecurity procedures and protocols necessary to protect people’s Private Information.”
W&L partner and practice group co-chair James Bilsborrow says, “As we see it, Practice Resources should have known and foreseen the possibility that people’s private information could be hacked. Practice Resources claims its mission is to ensure people’s private information is kept private.”
Mr. Bilsborrow continues, “But they failed to do this. Their actions, or lack of appropriate actions, were at the very least negligent. The company failed to take adequate and reasonable measures to ensure its data systems were protected against unauthorized intrusions.”
Failed to Protect You
In our class action lawsuit, W&L claims Practice Resources:
- Failed to take standard and reasonably available steps to prevent the data breach.
- Failed to disclose it did not have adequately robust computer systems and security practices to safeguard people’s private information.
- Failed to provide the plaintiff and other class members with prompt, complete, and accurate notice of the data breach.
“If Practice Resources had properly maintained and monitored its property, it’s possible all of this damage could have been prevented,” insists Mr. Bilsborrow. “At the very least, the company could have gotten a handle on the situation sooner and prevented such a widespread disaster.”
Medical Identity Theft Hurts You
Medical identity theft occurs when someone steals or uses your private information. This may include your name, Social Security number, or Medicare number. Thieves can fraudulently use this information to see a doctor, obtain prescription drugs, buy medical devices, submit fraudulent claims to Medicare, or obtain other types of medical care.
If you are a victim of medical identity theft, you might have difficulty obtaining your own medical care. You may be denied your own personal health insurance benefits.
You might also see a drop in your credit scores. You may find yourself unable to purchase items requiring proof of good credit.
“Victims of a data breach face not only imminent risk of fraud but live on constant alert. There is a very real risk someone will use your information in the future in fraudulent ways you can’t begin to imagine,” points out Mr. Bilsborrow.
Data Breach Problems You May Face
These are just some of the issues you can face as a victim of identity theft:
- Private information is sold on the black market and later used to create entirely new medical identities.
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Bills arrive for medical treatments you never received.
- Bad data can cause a delay in any urgent medical treatment you need.
- Fraudulent treatments for someone else are performed under your name and change your real medical information history.
- Incorrect medical history could lead to a misdiagnosis of your actual medical condition or recommendation for unnecessary treatments.
Perhaps worst of all, data breaches can lead to life-threatening mistakes in medical records and treatments.
W&L Is Seeking Remedies
“Plaintiffs in the Practice Resources data breach are living with these huge disruptions. They must now pay extra expenses for credit monitoring services, credit freezes, credit reports, and other protective measures to detect and to deter possible identity theft,” Mr. Bilsborrow adds.
Our lawsuit is seeking remedies including, but not limited to:
- Compensatory damages, actual damages, statutory damages, punitive damages, and statutory penalties.
- Equitable relief.
Claims Filed Against Practice Resources
W&L has filed several claims against Practice Resources. These include:
- Negligence.
- Breach of implied contract.
- Unjust enrichment.
- Negligence per se (violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act).
- Violation of the New York Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
- Violations of New York’s Information Security Breach and Notification Act.
- Breach of third-party beneficiary contract.
W&L Is Here for You
If you were harmed by disclosure of your private records, you may have a legal right to compensation. If your confidential medical information was stolen, your medical care could be denied or compromised.
You also could lose your health insurance benefits. Your credit rating could drop.
If this has happened to you or a loved one, consult with our attorneys about joining our class action lawsuit. An initial consultation is free of charge.
