Revenue cycle management company Gryphon Healthcare is facing multiple lawsuits after thousands of patients' data was exposed by a data breach involving one of its partners.
The partner notified Gryphon of a cybersecurity incident on Aug. 13, indicating an unauthorized person gained access to protected health information maintained by Gryphon, according to an Oct. 11 notification. Patient names, addresses, Social Security numbers, diagnoses, prescription information and medical record numbers may have been breached. However, the company hasn't seen evidence of information misuse.
Seven lawsuits were filed in Texas federal court between Oct. 16 and Oct. 17, according to court records.
One lawsuit alleged that "despite having the financial wherewithal and personnel necessary to prevent the data breach," Gryphon "nevertheless failed to use reasonable security procedures and practices appropriate to the nature of the sensitive, unencrypted information."
The proposed class-action lawsuit alleged the plaintiff and class members have "suffered and will continue to suffer injuries including: financial losses caused by misuse of their private Information; the loss or diminished value of their private information as a result of the data breach; lost time associated with detecting and preventing identity theft; and theft of personal and financial information."
Another lawsuit — also a proposed class action — alleged that "upon information and belief, Gryphon failed to properly monitor the computer network and systems that housed the private information. Had Gryphon properly monitored its networks, it would have discovered the data breach sooner."
Gryphon said it conducted a comprehensive review of the incident to confirm which individuals were affected by the incident. The investigation concluded Sept. 3 and the company mailed a letter to patients on Oct. 11. There were 393,358 patients potentially affected by the breach, according to a report filed with the Maine Attorney General's office.
The company did not immediately return a message from Becker's seeking comment on the lawsuits.