Verily Faces Lawsuit Over Alleged HIPAA Violations

Verily, owned by Alphabet and formerly known as Google Life Sciences, is facing a lawsuit filed by an ex-employee who alleges the misuse of personally identifiable health information belonging to over 25,000 patients and the failure to submit HIPAA breach reports. The lawsuit states that an internal inspection verified HIPAA breaches relating to HIPAA-secured information extracted from 14 HIPAA-covered entities and that patient information was used without consent.

It also claims that there were instances of patient information misuse, and asserts Verily did not disclose the data breach, delaying notifications as contract renewals were negotiated with the impacted regulated entities, a violation of the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule. According to Defensorum, the investigation uncovered these breaches as part of the alleged HIPAA violations.

The case highlights concerns about how Verily’s AI-powered health solutions are used by pharmaceutical companies and health systems, and underscores ongoing scrutiny of HIPAA compliance within Alphabet’s health research arm.