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Carthage, Rushville hospitals face federal lawsuits over online tracking

Memorial Hospital in Carthage and Sarah B. Culbertson Memorial Hospital in Rushville face federal class action lawsuits for allegedly disclosing personal and protected health information about patients to third parties without consent via tracking technologies on their websites.
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Memorial Hospital in Carthage and Sarah B. Culbertson Memorial Hospital in Rushville face federal class action lawsuits for allegedly disclosing personal and protected health information about patients to third parties without consent via tracking technologies on their websites.

Two area hospitals are the subjects of separate federal class action lawsuits for allegedly disclosing personal and protected health information without consent to third parties via tracking technologies on the hospital websites.

The lawsuits allege negligence, invasion of privacy, breach of contract, and violation of state eavesdropping statutes, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

In one lawsuit, filed Sept. 6 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District in Rock Island, a Schuyler County woman alleges Sarah B. Culbertson Memorial Hospital in Rushville knowingly installed code on its website that tracks visitor information and website interactions to help with marketing.

The tracking technologies then collected and transmitted patients’ information to Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and possibly other third parties without the knowledge or consent of patients, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit states transmitting such information allows third parties such as Facebook to know individuals’ health conditions, with Facebook then selling the private information to marketers who target patients with online advertisements.

In this case, the plaintiff began to receive targeted health advertisements on Facebook that reflected her private medical conditions and treatment after using the hospital’s website.

“Healthcare patients simply do not anticipate that her trusted healthcare provider will send her private health information to a hidden third party—let alone Facebook, a company with a sordid history of violating consumer privacy in pursuit of ever-increasing advertising revenue,” reads a portion of the 95-page complaint.

The Meta Pixel

The second lawsuit was filed Sept. 12 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois in Peoria.

In that lawsuit, a Hancock County woman contends Memorial Hospital in Carthage embedded the Meta Pixel on its website and shared private medical data without consent.

The Meta Pixel is a piece of code that tracks user actions on a website and helps companies better understand online behavior, then sends the data to Meta, the social media giant that operates Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

In an 80-page complaint, the plaintiff alleges she was targeted for health-related online advertisements for medication and treatment of certain conditions after using the hospital’s website and patient portal.

The plaintiff alleges that by sharing personal and private health information without permission, Memorial Hospital violated its own privacy policy. The policy states the hospital can disclose personal medical information on a limited basis for marketing purposes, such as distributing sample products during an office visit or giving patients promotional gifts.

“Nowhere in the privacy statement or anywhere else on the website does Memorial Hospital disclose its use of the Meta Pixel or other tracking technologies, which disclosed information about plaintiff and class members to unauthorized third parties and for marketing purposes,” the complaint states.

Both the Rushville and Carthage lawsuits say that under the privacy rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), health care providers cannot disclose personally identifiable protected health information to third parties without written authorization.

“Information about a person’s physical and mental health is among the most confidential and sensitive information in our society, and the mishandling of medical information can have serious consequences, including discrimination in the workplace or denial of insurance coverage,” the complaints read. “If people do not trust that their medical information will be kept private, they may be less likely to seek medical treatment, which can lead to more serious health problems down the road.”

In both lawsuits, the plaintiffs have demanded jury trials and are seeking damages for themselves and all those similarly situated.

Both plaintiffs are represented by Cohen & Malad LLP of Indianapolis.

Memorial Hospital and Sarah B. Culbertson Hospital have not yet responded to the complaints.

Federal guidance, other lawsuits

The Department of Health and Human Services first issued a bulletin in December 2022 on the use of online tracking technologies by HIPAA-regulated organizations, and has since updated it.

That was after an investigation by The Markup revealed a third of the top U.S. hospitals were using the Meta Pixel and sending sensitive data to Facebook.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ guidance warns HIPAA-regulated entities that they are not allowed to use tracking technologies in ways that would disclose personal health information without consent.

It also says such disclosure not only violates HIPAA privacy rules but may result in additional harm for patients, such as identity theft, financial loss, stigma, or discrimination.

Multiple lawsuits have been filed across the country against hospitals using tracking technologies, including one against a North Carolina health care provider that was ordered to pay a $6.6 million settlement to tens of thousands of patients.

But in June, a U.S. District Court judge in Texas vacated a portion of the Biden administration’s guidance on the issue, instead siding with the American Hospital Association.

Tri States Public Radio produced this story.  TSPR relies on financial support from our readers and listeners in order to provide coverage of the issues that matter to west central Illinois, southeast Iowa, and northeast Missouri. As someone who values the content created by TSPR's news department please consider making a financial contribution.

Jane Carlson is TSPR's regional reporter.