Simi Valley | Adventist Health Physicians Network fined for not maintaining Patient Privacy

Adventist Health Physicians Network (“Adventist”), of Simi Valley, was ordered to pay $40,000 in civil penalties to the District Attorney’s Office as part of a civil privacy settlement. As a result of their actions, Adventist violated the California Unfair Competition Law by failing to protect patient privacy, reasonably safeguard and maintain medical information, and properly dispose of confidential information. The settlement and investigation was conducted by the Consumer and Environmental Protection Unit of the District Attorney’s Office.

In October 2018, patient files belonging to Adventist were discovered in a storage unit in Simi Valley. During the investigation it was determined Adventist had previously lost access to the storage facility due to untimely payments. The contents of the storage unit were therefore sold at public auction. Soon after the patient medical files were discovered, Adventist recovered the materials and properly stored the patient files. It was determined that the personal identifying information contained in the medical files was never released to the public. Adventist has since enacted policies and procedures to safeguard and dispose of confidential information to ensure a similar incident does not happen again.