Fairchild Medical Center (Yreka, California) and Boone Health have agreed to settle class-action complaints alleging they impermissibly disclosed patient data to third parties through the use of pixels and other website-tracking tools, HIPAA Journal reported on 2 October. The settlements follow the wave of tracking-technology litigation that has swept US healthcare over the past two years, in which plaintiffs and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) have argued that Meta Pixel and similar tools embedded on patient portals pass protected health information — including search terms and appointment details — to advertising platforms without valid business-associate or consent arrangements. The outcomes reinforce the official position, most recently restated in OCR's January 2023 tracking-guidance bulletin, that covered entities must configure tracking tools to limit disclosure of PHI and treat the technology under a business-associate framework. For healthcare providers, the settlements are a reminder that website tracking remains a compliance and financial liability well beyond a technical nuisance.

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