Notice of HIPAA Privacy Breach

Empower Behavioral Health is issuing a notice about a recently discovered issue related to inadvertent information sharing and the steps Empower Behavioral Health has taken to address it. This notice was drafted in accordance with HIPAA disclosure requirements.

Similar to various companies across different industries, including health systems, Empower Behavioral Health has employed “pixels” and comparable tracking technologies on its website.

From September 2018 to July 2023, Empower Behavioral Health employed tracking technology via Google Analytics. During a brief period from May 30, 2023, to June 14, 2023, a Meta (Facebook) pixel was also present on the website. Through these pixels, certain Protected Health Information (PHI) was shared, encompassing a combination of health-related and personally identifiable details like IP addresses, device IDs, and URLs of pages discussing ABA or Psychological services provision.

It’s important to note that regardless of the method by which individuals engaged with Empower Behavioral Health’s Platforms, the disclosed information did not encompass names, email addresses, phone numbers, physical addresses, fax details, dates of birth, or specific health condition information provided by users.

On June 23, 2023, Empower Behavioral Health was made aware of the unregulated and unprotected nature of these pixels. Subsequently, and following consultation with legal advisors, all pixels were removed on July 12, 2023, in order to prevent any data sharing that did not fully comply with HIPAA requirements.

At this time, we have no knowledge of any instances of PHI misuse resulting from the tracking pixels.

For further details, please contact us at (210) 447-0039, Monday through Friday, between 8 am and 5 pm Central Time.