Legal briefs from around New Hampshire

NH joins 32 other states to settle with Inmediata over consumer health information breach

NH, 32 other states settles with Inmediadata for coding issue that exposed health information of 1.5 million consumers

New Hampshire and 32 other states have reached a settlement with health care clearinghouse Inmediata for a coding issue that exposed the protected health information of approximately 1.5 million consumers for almost three years, New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella announced Tuesday.

Under the settlement, Inmediata agreed to overhaul its data security and breach notification practices and make a $1.4 million payment to states. New Hampshire will receive $15,137.00 from the settlement, according to a news release.

“The Inmediata Health Group failed to secure the protected health information of 1,226 New Hampshire residents. First, Inmediata left electronic health information exposed online, then they failed to notify consumers of the breach as soon as possible as required by New Hampshire law,” Formella said in a statement. “From inadequate security measures to insufficient safeguards for protected health information, Inmediata simply failed consumers by not keeping their sensitive, personal health information secure.”

Inmediata facilitates transactions between health care providers and insurers across the United States.  On Jan. 15, 2019, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights alerted Inmediata that protected health information maintained by Inmediata was available online and had been indexed by search engines, the release said.

“As a result, sensitive patient information could be viewed through online searches, and potentially downloaded by anyone with access to an internet search engine,” the release said.

— NH BUSINSS REVIEW

37 McLane Middleton lawyers included in Super Lawyers

The law firm of McLane Middleton announced that 37 of its attorneys have been selected for inclusion in the 2023 edition of New England Super Lawyers and/or Massachusetts Super Lawyers.

Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The patented selection process includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations. The lawyers selected for inclusion from McLane Middleton along with their primary practice area as indicated by Super Lawyers are:

Manchester Office: Michael A. Delaney, criminal defense; Steven J. Dutton, business litigation; Bruce W. Felmly, civil litigation defense; Joseph A. Foster, bankruptcy business; Wilbur A. Glahn III, business litigation; Scott H. Harris, business litigation; Ralph F. Holmes , estate and trust litigation; Linda S. Johnson, schools and education; Daniel J. Norris , business/corporate; Margaret “Peg” O’Brien,  employment and labor; Jennifer L. Parent, business litigation; Mark C. Rouvalis, environmental litigation; Cameron C. Shilling, business litigation; Mark A. Wright, IP; William V.A. Zorn, Estate and probate.

Concord Office: Barry Needleman, environmental litigation, Gregory H. Smith, environmental.

Portsmouth Office: Patrick C. Closson, business/corporate

— NH BUSINESS REVIEW

UNH police department offer free education, other perks to retain staff amid national police shortage

Police departments across the nation are facing issues with staffing and the stricter hiring requirements of U.S. college law enforcement has impacted their ability to hire and retain officers. In wake of the national police shortage, the University of New Hampshire Police Department has emphasized their resources to aid police retention: access to free education and attempts to enmesh the goals of the department with its officers and dispatchers. 

 A survey by the Police Executive Research Forum found a 3.48% decrease in the total number of officers within police departments between 2020 and 2021. Eight out of the 183 departments surveyed were university or college law enforcement. 

“We have a much more diverse community (at UNH) that represents a cross section of not just the country, but the globe. We have to really look at how we do our training and our communication skills, to embrace that diversity,” said Francis Weeks, the operations division commander and attorney prosecutor for UNH PD. He has worked as a police officer for 26 years, and has worked for UNH PD for 14 years. 

Each New Hampshire police officer goes through training at the New Hampshire Police Academy (the one police academy for the entire state). UNH PD currently has 18 officers in total. To work on the force of UNH PD one must be a full-time certified officer. Once an officer is hired at UNH PD they must undergo nine months of supervision. An officer hired in September of 2023 would not be off and self-sufficient until the summer of 2024.

— SOPHIA SCHLICHTMANN/THE NEW HAMPSHIRE