The Danville, Pennsylvania-based healthcare provider Geisinger Health and its former IT vendor Nuance Communications, Inc., have agreed to a $5 million settlement to resolve class action litigation over a 2023 insider data breach involving a former Nuance Communications employee.
On or around November 29, 2023, Geisinger Health learned that a former Nuance Communications employee, Andre J. Burk (also known as Max Vance), accessed the sensitive data of Geisinger Health patients two days after he was terminated by Nuance Communications. The data had been provided to Nuance Communications in connection with the services the IT company was contracted to provide. The breach was detected by Geisinger Health, rather than Nuance Communications, and it alerted its IT vendor about the breach.
Under HIPAA, business associates of HIPAA-regulated entities must comply with the HIPAA Security Rule, one of the requirements of which is to ensure that access rights are immediately revoked when employees are terminated. When notified about the unauthorized access, Nuance Communications terminated the former employee’s access rights and launched an investigation, which revealed that the former employee had potentially obtained the protected health information of more than 1.2 million Geisinger Health patients, including names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, medical information, and health insurance information.
The affected individuals started to be notified about the data breach on June 24, 2024. The delay in notification was at the request of law enforcement. The HHS’ Office for Civil Rights was informed that the protected health information of 1,276,026 individuals was involved. Max Vance is now facing criminal charges over the data theft – one count of obtaining information from a protected computer – and his trial is scheduled for early January 2026.
Several lawsuits were filed against Geisinger Health and Nuance Communications, Inc. in response to the data breach, which were consolidated into a single action in July 2024 – In re: Geisinger Health Data Security Incident Litigation – in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The consolidated lawsuit alleged that the defendants failed to implement and maintain reasonable and adequate security measures to secure, protect, and safeguard the plaintiffs’ and class members’ personal and protected health information.
The lawsuit alleged that Geisinger Health failed to ensure that its vendors employed reasonable security measures, that Nuance Communications failed to properly monitor systems for intrusions, there was insufficient network segmentation, and a failure to comply with FTC guidelines, the HIPAA Rules, and the defendants did not adhere to industry standard cybersecurity measures. The lawsuit asserted claims of negligence, negligence per se, breach of implied contract, breach of third-party beneficiary contract, unjust enrichment, and declaratory judgment and injunctive relief against both defendants, and breach of fiduciary duty against defendant Geisinger Health.
The defendants disagree with the claims in the lawsuit; however, they chose to settle with no admission of wrongdoing to avoid the expense and uncertainty of a trial and related appeals. The settlement received preliminary approval from District Court Judge Matthew W. Brann on November 18, 2025. Under the terms of the settlement, the defendants will establish a $5,000,000 settlement fund, from which attorneys’ fees and expenses, service awards, and settlement administration costs will be deducted. The remainder of the funds will be used to pay benefits to the class members.
The class consists of 1,308,363 class members who may choose to receive a one-year membership to a credit monitoring and identity theft protection service. In addition, a claim may be submitted for reimbursement of documented, unreimbursed out-of-pocket losses due to the data breach up to $5,000 per class member. Alternatively, instead of a claim for reimbursement of losses, class members may choose to receive a pro rata cash payment. The final approval hearing has been scheduled for March 16, 2026, and claims must be submitted by March 18, 2026.
June 24, 2024: Geisinger: Former Business Associate Employee Unlawfully Accessed PHI of More Than 1.2 Million Patients
More than one million Geisinger patients are being notified that their protected health information has been unlawfully accessed by a former employee of one of its business associates, Nuance Communications.
Nuance Communications provides information technology services to Geisinger, which requires access to systems containing patient information. On November 29, 2023, Geisinger detected unauthorized access to patient data by a former Nuance employee and immediately notified Nuance about the incident. Nuance immediately terminated the former employee’s access and launched an investigation, which confirmed that the former employee accessed patient data two days after they were terminated.
The former employee may have viewed and acquired the data of more than one million Geisinger patients. The data varied from patient to patient and may have included names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, admission/discharge/transfer codes, medical record numbers, facility name abbreviations, and race and gender information. Nuance has confirmed that the employee did not have access to Social Security numbers, financial information, or claims/insurance information.
The Department of Justice can pursue criminal charges for HIPAA violations under the Social Security Act when individuals knowingly violate HIPAA. When an employee of a HIPAA-covered entity or business associate has their employment terminated, HIPAA still applies. The penalties for accessing and obtaining protected health information are severe and can include a hefty fine and jail time. A tier 1 violation carries a maximum penalty of up to a year in jail, a tier 2 violation carries a jail term of up to 5 years, and a sentence of up to 10 years in jail is possible for a tier 3 violation – obtaining PHI for personal gain or with malicious intent. Geisinger has confirmed that the unauthorized access was reported to law enforcement and the former Nuance employee has been arrested and is facing federal criminal charges.
Due to the high risk of unauthorized access to patient data by former employees, HIPAA-covered entities and their business associates are required to develop and implement procedures for terminating access to electronic protected health information when employment comes to an end under the workforce security standard of the HIPAA Security Rule – 45 CFR § 164.308 (3)(ii)(C). This incident clearly shows why it is vital to revoke access immediately upon termination of employment. The HHS’ Office for Civil Rights has taken action over violations of this Security Rule provision in 2020 (City of New Haven) and 2018 (Pagosa Springs Medical Center).
The Risant Health-owned health system has confirmed that Nuance Communications is mailing notifications to the affected individuals. Patients have been advised to review the statements they receive from their health plans and contact their health insurer if any services appear on their statements that they have not received. A helpline has been set up for individuals requiring further information about the breach – 855-575-8722. The helpline is manned from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET Monday to Friday. Callers should quote engagement number B124651.
The breach was reported to the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights as affecting 1,276,026 individuals.
This article has been updated to state the number of people affected by the breach, as that information was unavailable at the time of the initial post.
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