◆ A federal grand jury in Pittsburgh indicted a woman from Butler, Pennsylvania, on charges that she wrongfully obtained and disclosed patients’ health information, U.S. attorney Scott Brady said. The six-count indictment, returned on June 28, alleges that Linda Sue Kalina, 61, “wrongfully obtained protected health information in violation of HIPAA from March 30, 2016, through August 14, 2017, relating to 111 individual patients. The indictment also charges that on four occasions between December 30, 2016, and August 11, 2017, Kalina wrongfully disclosed the health information of three such individuals, with the intent to cause malicious harm.” If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 11 years in prison, a fine of $350,000, or both. See the U.S. attorney’s announcement at https://bit.ly/2KvlqVd.

◆ More than 270,000 health and insurance records were stolen by hackers who broke into computers at Med Associates, Inc., based in Latham, New York, which provides claims services for more than 70 health care providers. On March 22, Med Associates officials noticed “unusual activity” at a computer workstation at one of the company’s offices. An investigation found that “an unauthorized party accessed the workstation, and through that, may have had access to certain personal and protected information,” according to a statement from the company. The “vast majority” of the records involved did not include Social Security numbers, the company said. Read more at https://bit.ly/2KdNPzH.