HIPAA Blog

[ Friday, May 25, 2018 ]

 

Aetna HIV Mailing Case Update: I reported on this case back in March, but it keeps getting more and more interesting.  At least the blame game does.

To recap, Aetna send out mailings to beneficiaries with HIV, and the mailing came in window envelopes that allowed the HIV diagnosis to be viewed without opening the envelope.  The mailing was actually part of a legal settlement.  Having already sued its own mailing company (which responded by blaming Aetna's law firm), Aetna has now decided to sue the plaintiff's firm that brought the cases that resulted in the settlement.  For good measure, they've also sued the nonprofit entity that helped the plaintiffs put the lawsuit together in the first place. 

Sweetest part: the underlying settlement was over a Aetna policy that required HIV patients to use mail-order pharmacies.  The plaintiffs objected because, due to the specific nature of the drugs, the mail delivery could expose that the plaintiffs were HIV patients.  So the underlying case was over an objection about improper disclosure of PHI.

Crazy, man.

Jeff [11:51 AM]

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