Advocate Health Care Network pays $5.55 million to settle data breach case

Downers Grove-based Advocate Health Care Network agreed to pay a $5.55 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights stemming from a breach that jeopardized the data of about 4 million patients.

The government said this settlement is perhaps the largest to-date against a single group.

Advocate, one of the nation's biggest health care systems which operates 12 hospitals and more than 200 other treatment locations in Illinois, faced multiple potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act when laptops containing patient information were stolen from its Park Ridge office about three years ago, the government said in a statement.

Advocate, which also agreed to adopt a corrective action plan, said its priority is to protect the privacy and confidentiality of its patients, Advocate spokeswoman Lisa Trafficanta Lesniak said.

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