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The Eye Care Leaders (ECL) case involves alleged 2021 attacks on software used by eye-care clinics. A 2022 class-action complaint reported that about 3 million people were affected by the time it was filed, while stating that the total was still unknown. The settlement was approved in 2024, but its claim deadline has passed.
What was the Eye Care Leaders breach?
Eye Care Leaders provided record-keeping services to eye-care clinics. A consolidated class-action complaint filed on October 26, 2022, alleged multiple security incidents involving ECL systems during 2021. The complaint described ransomware attacks and disruption to record-keeping and electronic medical record systems. These incident details are allegations in the complaint, not findings established by the settlement website. Read the complaint.
The complaint alleged that the first incident began in March 2021, followed by another in April. It also alleged an August incident involving a former employee whose credentials had not been disabled, and a fourth incident in December. Patient notifications reportedly began in June 2022.
How many patients were affected?
The plaintiffs’ 2022 consolidated complaint reported that the affected count had grown to approximately 3 million by its October 26 filing. It also said the total remained unknown, so this is a complaint-era reported figure—not a definitive final count or a current government total. See the complaint.
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What information may have been involved?
The complaint listed these categories of information as allegedly involved:
- Names and birth dates
- Medical record numbers
- Health-insurance information
- Social Security numbers
- Information about medical care
That broad list does not mean every person’s information included every category. Check the notice from your own eye-care clinic to learn which specific fields may have been involved in your case.
Could the breach have disrupted eye-care services?
The settlement site says the lawsuits claimed ransomware attacks over a period of months resulted in service outages affecting eye-care physicians who relied on ECL to access patient information. The reviewed materials do not provide a clinic-by-clinic account of outage duration or operational impact. See the settlement website’s description.
Was my eye doctor affected?
The complaint and settlement materials do not establish that every clinic using ECL, or every patient of an ECL client, was affected. Contact your eye-care clinic directly and ask whether it used ECL services during the relevant period and whether your information was included. Your clinic’s notification is the most relevant source for determining your individual exposure.
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No. The settlement website says the court approved the settlement on June 24, 2024, and the deadline to submit a claim was July 24, 2024. That deadline has passed; the site says people who did nothing will not receive benefits and are bound by the settlement terms. Check the settlement website for its stated terms and status.
Under the settlement terms, eligible class members could claim documented out-of-pocket expenses up to $5,000 and could also claim a cash payment, with the amount depending on the number of valid claims. Those were settlement benefits with a past claim deadline, not an open filing opportunity.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Is this the same as the MMG Fusion case?
No. HHS OCR announced a separate settlement concerning MMG Fusion on March 5, 2026. MMG Fusion is a different software company whose products communicated with patients of covered entities; it is not the Eye Care Leaders case described by the ECL settlement site. Read HHS OCR’s announcement.
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