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Insight Global to pay $2.7 million in federal contact tracing case – NBC10 Philadelphia

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What to know

  • A staffing agency that conducted COVID-19 contact tracing for Pennsylvania and released the private medical data of about 72,000 residents will pay $2.7 million in a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and a whistleblower.
  • Federal prosecutors announced the settlement with Insight Global on May 1, 2024.
  • The Pennsylvania Department of Health paid the Atlanta-based company tens of millions of dollars to manage the state’s contact tracing program during the height of the pandemic.

A major staffing agency that conducted COVID-19 contact tracing for Pennsylvania and exposed the personal health information of about 72,000 residents will pay $2.7 million in a settlement with the Justice Department and a company whistleblower, federal officials said. prosecutors announced Wednesday.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health paid Atlanta-based Insight Global tens of millions of dollars to manage the state’s contact tracing program during the height of the pandemic. The company was responsible for identifying and contacting people who had been exposed to the coronavirus so they could quarantine.

Employees used unauthorized Google accounts — which are easily viewable online — to store names, phone numbers, email addresses, COVID-19 exposure status, sexual orientation and other information about residents reached for contact tracing, even though the contract required of the company with the state that to protect such data.

State health officials fired Insight Global in 2021 after the data breach came to light. A subsequent federal whistleblower lawsuit alleged that Insight Global secured its lucrative contract with Pennsylvania knowing it did not have secure computer systems and adequate cybersecurity.

The whistleblower — a former Insight Global contractor — complained to the company’s management that residents’ health information may have been accessible to the public, the lawsuit said. The company initially ignored her, but when pressed, told the whistleblower “that it was unwilling to pay for necessary computer security systems and instead preferred to use its contract funds to hire large numbers of employees,” according to the lawsuit.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, it took Insight Global five months to secure residents’ protected health information.

“Government contractors who fail to follow procedures to protect individuals’ personal health information will be held accountable,” said Maureen R. Dixon, chief of the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services , in a statement on Wednesday. about the settlement, from which the whistleblower will receive nearly $500,000.

Insight Global, which has about 70 offices in the US, Canada and Britain, has previously acknowledged it mishandled sensitive information and apologized. The company said at the time that it only discovered late that employees had created unauthorized Google accounts for sharing information.

A message was sent to the company on Wednesday seeking comment on the settlement.

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