A lawsuit claims that Greensburg, Pa.-based Excela Health improperly disclosed patients’ protected health information to Facebook and Google, TribLive reported April 12.
A Philadelphia-based law firm filed a lawsuit against Excela Health alleging that the health system’s web portal used technology that sent patients’ physician searches, scheduling, treatments and other personal information related to medical conditions to the tech giants.
The lawsuit also claims Excela Health knew that the tracking tool was being used, but did not inform patients about its usage.
The lawsuit is seeking $4 million in compensatory damages and punitive damages.
This comes after a Health Affair study found that 98.6 percent of U.S. hospital websites sent patient data to third-party companies such as Alphabet, Meta and Adobe.
