Medical Solutions Management, Inc. Data Breach (2003)

A federal New York court recently handed out prison sentences to conclude a cringe-worthy 1,000-patient data breach that dates back to 2003. This is a seminal case both because of its egregious nature and the fact that it’s among the first criminal prosecutions in the nation for wrongful disclosure of patient information under HIPAA. Helene Michel, the owner of Medical Solutions Management Inc. (MSM), a Hicksville, NY medical supply company, according to PHIPrivacy.net, was convicted of $10.7 million Medicare fraud and wrongful disclosure of private patient information in September. Michel was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison by United States District Judge Joseph F. Bianco at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York. She used her position at MSM to enter from Long Island nursing homes (Nassau, Suffolk, Queens, Kings, and Dutchess Counties) and steal patient data over a four-and-a-half-year period from April 2003 to March 2007. Michel then used that information to submit fake Medicare claims that her company never covered for patients.