Mass. hospital agrees to $750,000 settlement over 2010 data breach

The data breach compromised the personal information of more than 800,000 people.

Modern Healthcare: $750,000 Settlement In Data-Breach Suit
South Shore Hospital, Weymouth, Mass., has reached a $750,000 settlement agreement of a lawsuit over a 2010 data breach involving the records of 800,000 individuals, the hospital and the Massachusetts attorney general's office have announced. Under the settlement approved today by Suffolk Superior Court, South Shore agreed to pay a $250,000 civil penalty along with $225,000 that will go into a fund set up by Attorney General Martha Coakley to "promote education concerning the protection of personal information and protected health information," her statement said (Conn, 5/24).

Boston Globe: South Shore Hospital To Pay $750,000 To Settle Data Breach Charges
It will cost South Shore Hospital in Weymouth $750,000 to settle charges related to a 2010 data breach that compromised the personal information of more than 800,000 people. The settlement, approved Thursday in Suffolk Superior Court, included a civil penalty of $250,000 and $225,000 for a fund to be used by the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley to promote education on the protection of personal data. South Shore Hospital was also credited for $275,000 it spent on security measures following the breach (Bray, 5/25).

In other hospital news --

The Dallas Morning News: Parkland Memorial Hospital Extends Contract Of Interim Chief
Parkland Memorial Hospital's governing board agreed Thursday to extend the contract of its interim chief executive after a behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign by Dallas powerbrokers to keep Dr. Thomas Royer in the top job. The unanimous vote to extend Royer's contract by 90 days followed closed-door discussions among board members. It was at odds with concerns raised by federally installed safety monitors about Royer's ability to steer the public hospital through a difficult transition (Moffeit, Egerton, and Dunklin, 5/24).

San Francisco Chronicle: 4 VA Health Facilities Cited For Violations
Four Department of Veterans Affairs medical facilities in Northern California have been cited for a total of 25 safety and health violations, ranging from overflowing trash cans of biohazardous waste to exposed syringes. The VA hospital in Mather and the outpatient clinic in Martinez were the biggest offenders with 10 serious violations and one minor violation each. The outpatient clinic in Oakland committed two serious violations and the outpatient clinic at the Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield committed one (Lee, 5/25).

Boston Globe: Partners' Second-Quarter Earnings Fall On One-Time Charge
Taking a nearly $110 million write-off on an electronic health record system it will scrap, Partners HealthCare System Inc. reported Thursday that its second-quarter operating income dropped to $5.3 million from $71.2 million in the same period last year. Partners, the state's largest hospital and physicians network, partly offset the decline through an increase in investment income (Weisman, 5/25).