Heritage Valley Health System, based in Beaver, Pa., is facing a lawsuit for allegedly using pixel tracking technology on its website that allowed third parties to gain access to some patients' protected health information.
The lawsuit, filed July 21 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, alleges that between July 2018 and May 2023, the health system embedded a pixel tracker, dubbed Meta Pixel, onto its website and subpages.
The pixel allegedly intercepted visitor's "electronic communications" with the health system's website and sent them to Meta, according to the suit obtained by Becker's.
The plaintiff, Tiffanie Bowen, said patient information such as information about their healthcare providers and services locations, types of conditions and treatments researched, computer IP addresses, and other personally identifying information was disclosed to Meta without patients' consent.
Heritage Valley Health System is one of many hospitals and health systems around the U.S. facing lawsuits for allegedly sharing healthcare data with third parties through pixel tracking technologies.