My question is a insurance company sent my full name, social sercurity number and all my info concerning my short term disability claim to a third party on accident, is this a hipaa violation? They did send me a letter but offered nothing about what to do about it as far as my identity being stolen or anything? If this is a violation is there anything I can do?

That all depends on who EXACTLY the third party is.

If this was done by accident, then yes it is a violation. You can report it at the HIPAA web site. They will investigate and maybe 2-3 years down the line, impose a fine against the insurer.

If you want you can contact the insurer and demand that they pay for a credit monitoring a service for you. But this appears to be an honest mistake, and its unlikely the 3rd party will use the info maliciously.

How did you find out about it?

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

If this was done by accident, then yes it is a violation. You can report it at the HIPAA web site. They will investigate and maybe 2-3 years down the line, impose a fine against the insurer.

If you want you can contact the insurer and demand that they pay for a credit monitoring a service for you. But this appears to be an honest mistake, and its unlikely the 3rd party will use the info maliciously.

How did you find out about it?

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I found out about it because they sent me a letter stating they had done it. Then told me I needed to pay to have my credit monitored. Then they told me what it would cost to do so. I was dumb founded that they would expect me to pay for their mistake, I didn't know if I should report it to hippa or if I should just let it go.

Usually when something like this happens they pay for credit monitoring. I would suggest that, if they don't you will report it to HIPAA.