Aetna pays $17 million to settle lawsuit over envelope breach
The lawsuit alleges the insurer violated beneficiary privacy by mailing HIV medication information in an envelope that had a transparent window.
Photo Source: The Legal Action Center
Aetna is paying $17 million to settle a class action lawsuit that it violated HIPAA privacy when it mailed HIV medication information in an envelope that had a transparent window.
The class action lawsuit was filed in August 2017 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania, the Legal Action Center and attorneys for Berger & Montague.
[Also: Aetna violated HIPAA when envelope windows exposed HIV medication use, attorneys say]
The settlement was announced on January 17, six months after Aetna discovered in July that transparent envelope windows contained the patient's name, address and start of a letter that said its purpose was to advise the beneficiary of options in filling prescriptions for HIV medicine.
The letter was sent to about 12,000 Aetna beneficiaries taking medication to treat HIV, or PrEP, a pre-exposure prophylactic pill to prevent HIV.
The letters sent in July were a response to earlier privacy concerns from members that Aetna was having them obtain HIV medications through mail-order pharmacies.
In August, CVS Caremark discovered it had also mailed in envelopes with transparent windows when it sent pharmacy benefit information to about 4,000 patients in Ohio's AIDS Drug Assistance Program.
Twitter: @SusanJMorse
Email the writer: susan.morse@himssmedia.com
