Health Net is a managed health care organization that provides health care services to 6 million patients nationwide. In March 2011, Health Net began notifying 1.9 million patients that their personal information was compromised following reports from IBM, Health Net’s information technology vendor, that several server drivers were unaccounted for at a data center in Rancho Cordova, California. IBM notified Health Net that it could not locate the servers in January 2011. According to Health Net, current and former policy holders’ information that was compromised includes patients’ names, addresses, medical information, Social Security numbers and financial information.
On March 22, 2011, Girard Gibbs LLP filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of current and former Health Net members alleging that Health Net and IBM violated California’s patient privacy law known as the Confidentiality in Medical Information Act, which prohibits the unauthorized use, disclosure, and negligent maintenance or preservation of patients’ medical information and medical records.








