Aetna Class Action Spotlights Mailing Practices, BA Agreements

Aetna, Inc.’s agreement to pay $17 million to settle a federal class action lawsuit involving a faulty mailing that disclosed the use of HIV medications of thousands of members came swiftly and involved a smaller settlement amount than some observers might have expected.

However, health care entities eyeing the results of this lawsuit—and mindful of any potential OCR settlement that still could come from it—should at a minimum re-examine their mailing practices along with business associate agreements executed with certain vendors, experts say.

“Although errors are bound to happen, organizations need to have safeguards in place,” says Richelle Marting, an attorney with the Forbes Law Group in Overland Park, Kan. “In the case of mailings, you can have a quality check process to look at the window envelopes to ensure only names/addresses are visible. You can have a well-defined process for reviewing third-party business associate relationships to ensure BAAs [business associate agreements] are in place. You can periodically remind staff about common sources of human error and ways to prevent them, or remind them about policies or trending issues.”

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