A Larimer County man last week sued UCHealth, alleging the health system’s website used a tool that sent patients’ personal information to Facebook’s parent company.
Patrick Miller filed the lawsuit Wednesday as a proposed class action in U.S. District Court in Denver. The lawsuit alleges UCHealth used Meta’s Pixel tool, which tracks visitor actions, to collect personal information when people clicked on the “Find a Doctor” function, and possibly when they used the patient portal.
The lawsuit didn’t include Meta as a defendant.
The complaint said Pixel collected the terms patients searched, such as specific conditions or symptoms, and combined them with identifying information to build user profiles for advertising and marketing. It then allegedly shared that information with Meta.
“The purpose and result of defendantap use of the tracking Pixel was marketing and profits,” the lawsuit said.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act prevents regulated entities, such as hospitals, from disclosing identifiable private information to third parties under most circumstances, unless the patient agrees. The lawsuit argues UCHealth didn’t tell patients it could send their information to Meta.
UCHealth said in a statement that it prioritizes patients’ privacy.
“We disagree with the plaintiffs’ argument and plan to defend ourselves if this issue moves forward,” it said.
Atrium Health, a system in North Carolina, to settle a lawsuit related to its use of Meta’s Pixel. Duke University Health System for $3.7 million.
A against Meta and a telehealth site for erectile dysfunction drugs remains ongoing.
