Advocate Aurora patients whose health info was exposed have until mid-January to join $12.2M settlement
Millions of patients of Advocate Aurora Health in Wisconsin and Illinois have until mid-January to take part in a $12.2 million legal settlement over the unauthorized disclosure of their health information.
In August, Advocate Aurora Health, the health care system now part of North Carolina-based Advocate Health, reached a settlement in a federal class action lawsuit involving millions of patients whose health information was shared with Facebook and other outside companies without their permission.
The data breach, which occurred over five years from 2017 to 2022, affected as many as 3 million people who sought care from Advocate Aurora's hospitals, clinics and other health care sites in Wisconsin and Illinois, according to the complaint filed in the lawsuit.
Because of the breach, the health information of millions of patients may have been shared with companies like Facebook and Google, which then used that data to target ads to patients. Information that may have been shared included:
Dates, times and locations of patients' medical appointments
Types of appointments or procedures sought by patients
The names and specialties of patients' doctors
Communications between patients and others in the MyChart patient portal
Other personal information.
The tracking pixels have been the subject of a slew of lawsuits against health care systems in recent months over similar violations of data privacy and the unauthorized disclosure of patients' health information. Froedtert Health also was sued and entered into a settlement, first reported by the Wisconsin Law Journal, over its alleged use of tracking pixels on its website and other web platforms that compromised patients' health information.
The flood of lawsuits began after a nonprofit news organization, The Markup, in collaboration with news outlet STAT, published an investigation in June 2022 that found dozens of hospitals' websites across the country were sharing patients' sensitive health information with Facebook through the company's tracker, Meta Pixel. Froedtert Hospital was one of the hospitals examined by The Markup and found to be sharing health information with Facebook.
Those affected by the Advocate Aurora breach are entitled to a piece of the settlement, up to $50 each, though the per-person payment could end up being a lot less, depending on how many people submit a claim for payment.
In Advocate Aurora's case, the $12,225,000 settlement was preliminarily approved by a judge in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Wisconsin in August. The settlement will go before the judge for final approval next year, after everyone affected by the data breach has been notified of the settlement and given the opportunity to make a claim for payment, object to the settlement or opt out of the settlement.
The class action lawsuit was filed last year after Advocate Aurora Health notified patients in October 2022 that their personal information may have been disclosed to outside companies without their knowledge and that the health system had disabled or removed the tracking pixels from its websites and patient portals.
More: Data breach reported at Advocate Aurora Health, impacting up to 3 million patients
Advocate Aurora Health is now part of Advocate Health, one of the largest health systems in the nation that was created late last year when the Wisconsin and Illinois-based system merged with North Carolina-based Atrium Health.
Who is part of the settlement in the class action lawsuit against Advocate Aurora?
About 2.5 million people have been identified as members of the class action, whose health information was or may have been disclosed to Facebook and other outside companies without their authorization.
Those whose information was disclosed include people who visited Advocate Aurora's website, who used the system's LiveWell app or who used their Advocate Aurora MyChart account between October 24, 2017 and October 22, 2022.
I was affected by Advocate Aurora's breach. How do I get the settlement money?
To be part of the settlement, you must submit a claim by Jan. 18, 2024.
You may submit a claim form online by visiting AdvocateAuroraSettlement.com or you may mail a paper claim form to Settlement Administrator - 175057, c/o Kroll Settlement Administration LLC, PO Box 5324, New York, NY 10150-5324.
When would I get my settlement money?
You would receive your payment after the settlement is finalized and becomes effective, likely next year.
A hearing for final approval of the settlement is scheduled for March 8, 2024. Payments would likely be mailed to people who filed a valid claim within two months of the effective date, according to court records.
What do I give up by being part of the Advocate Aurora settlement?
By being part of the settlement, you would release Advocate Aurora from any and all claims that relate in any way to the disclosure of your information through the health system's use of tracking pixels in this case.
In other words, you would not be able to sue or be part of any other lawsuit or legal action against Advocate Aurora about or arising from the claims or issues in this lawsuit with respect to the alleged sharing of your personal or health information.
How will the settlement money in the class action lawsuit against Advocate Aurora be divvied up?
The settlement money will be split among patients affected by the data breach, the attorneys for the people who filed the class action, the firm administering the settlement and other costs. Only those patients who submit a valid claim for compensation may receive part of the settlement.
Under the settlement agreement, the attorneys in the case may seek up to 35% of the settlement money, or nearly $4.28 million. The federal district judge overseeing the case will ultimately decide how much of the settlement the attorneys on the case receive. They also may seek litigation expenses of up to $30,000.
The 10 patients who filed the class action and are named in the lawsuit may receive up to $3,500 each from the settlement.
The firm administering the settlement is called Kroll Settlement Administration, LLC.
Following the payment of administration costs, attorneys' fees and expenses and other costs, the remaining settlement money will be split evenly among all of the affected patients who filed a valid claim for compensation with the settlement administrator.
What if I have an objection to the settlement or want to opt out?
If you want to object to the settlement or part of it, you must file a letter or a legal brief with the court explaining your objections by Dec. 19. For more details on filing an objection, visit AdvocateAuroraSettlement.com and click on the FAQs tab.
You may still file a claim to receive a payment from the settlement even if you file an objection.
If you want to opt out of the settlement, you must mail a request for exclusion to the settlement administrator by Dec. 19. For more details on how to opt out of the settlement, visit AdvocateAuroraSettlement.com and click on the FAQs tab.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Advocate Aurora patients can join $12.2M settlement in data privacy case
