Tacoma, Wash.-based Virginia Mason Franciscan Health denies claims that it shared patients' protected health information with third parties after a lawsuit claimed the health system used pixels on its website and patient portal, which allowed Meta to intercept patient data.
The health system said on Sept. 12 an email regarding the lawsuit was sent to patients along with employees who are or were patients and have interacted with virginiamason.org or the MyVirginiaMason patient portal.
The lawsuit, dubbed Doe, et al. v. Virginia Mason Medical Center, et al., alleged that Virginia Mason placed tracking pixels that transmitted patients' protected health information, their status as patients of Virginia Mason and their communications with Virginia Mason to Meta, Google, Signal and the Trade Desk, which develops marketing software.
"Virginia Mason Franciscan Health denies the claims raised in the lawsuit. No medical-related information, nor communications between a doctor and patient, have been transmitted to third parties," a news release from the health system reads.
Virgina Mason said it routinely reviews its practices to ensure HIPAA compliance.