New healthcare privacy challenges as online data tracking, sharing methods evolve

Multiple class-action lawsuits have been filed against Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, alleging illegal information harvesting. Several major US health systems have been named as co-defendants or faced lawsuits themselves for alleged misuse or misconfiguration of the tracking technology. Novant Health and Advocate Aurora Health have also disclosed data breaches related to the tracking script. Privacy experts emphasize the importance of thorough risk analyses, training, and independent reviews of policies and systems to address potential gaps and risks in healthcare organizations.