According to a CBS report, Northstar Healthcare, a Lakeview-based HIV treatment and research center, is under fire for allegedly sending a mass email containing patient contact information.
Northstar did not respond to a request to comment on whether it had sent a mass email to patients over the summer with email addresses and names visible to all recipients.
The alleged blunder could constitute a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a federal law that protects patient confidentiality.
Last winter, a Howard Brown Health Center employee was fired for forwarding two complimentary emails, sent from patients enrolled in an AIDS study she coordinated, to her mother.
The allegation is the second to hit Northstar in recent years. A 2009 audit of the facility found that Northstar had submitted false information to drug companies sponsoring trials at Northstar. The findings resulted in a Food and Drug Administration investigation and the firing of a staff member who allegedly falsified the information and embezzled money off the trial. Dr. Daniel Berger, who founded Northstar in 1991, was allowed to continue care.