Columbus Regional Health has agreed to settle two class-action lawsuits that accused the hospital of quietly embedding tracking technology on its website and patient portal, allegedly sending patient information to advertising companies. Under the proposed deal, eligible patients would get a relatively small cash payment and a year of privacy-protection services while the settlement waits for a judge to sign off.
According to the official settlement website, people who registered for electronic records between Nov. 1, 2017 and June 30, 2022 can claim a $25.50 cash payment and may enroll in CyEx Privacy Shield Pro for one year. The site also offers instructions on how to file, FAQs and contact information for the claims administrator. It lists key dates as well: the opt-out and objection deadline is June 22, 2026, a final-approval hearing is set for July 22, 2026, and the claim deadline is Sept. 19, 2026, per the settlement website.
Local coverage of the deal adds more dollars and cents detail. The settlement would provide $5,000 each to five named plaintiffs and allows up to $577,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs. Court filings cited in that reporting say there are roughly 20,763 potentially eligible people and estimate that, if every one of them files a cash claim, the total payout would come to about $529,456.50, according to The Republic.
Part of a national trend
The Columbus deal is one of a growing number of settlements tied to hospital website tracking practices. A 2022 investigation by The Markup found Meta’s tracking pixel on dozens of major hospital sites and raised questions about whether certain setups might run afoul of HIPAA. Similar lawsuits against other Indiana systems, including Goshen Health and Hancock Health, have also resulted in settlements, with coverage available at ClassAction.org.
How to claim and what to expect
People who think they fall into the settlement class can file an online claim or mail in a paper form to the settlement administrator. The official claim portal provides the form, a mailing address and a phone number for assistance. The administrator’s site also notes that CyEx Privacy Shield Pro enrollment codes have been sent by mail or email to class members, and that anyone who does not want to be part of the settlement can opt out by the June 22 deadline. Details are posted on the claim page.
Legal implications
The lawsuits put a spotlight on unsettled legal questions, including whether pixel-style tracking on password-protected health pages counts as unlawful interception or a privacy violation, and whether the data sent to third parties qualifies as protected health information. Reporting and legal analysis indicate that courts are not in full agreement: some judges have scaled back certain privacy claims while allowing negligence or consumer-protection counts to move forward, a pattern described in national legal coverage from Law360.
Columbus Regional has denied the allegations and says it chose to settle in order to avoid the cost and uncertainty of continued litigation, according to settlement materials and news reports. If the Marion County Superior Court grants final approval at the July 22 hearing, the settlement administrator is expected to follow the schedule posted on the settlement website to send out payments and activate the privacy-service enrollments.
