Carolina Arthritis Associates, a medical practice specializing in rheumatology care, reported a data breach tied to a September 2024 incident that may have exposed patients’ sensitive personal and health-related information. Healthcare organizations are frequent targets because their systems store high-value data such as names, contact details, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, insurance information, and sometimes clinical or billing records—details that can be used for identity theft, fraudulent claims, or medical identity fraud. This proposed class action settlement website indicates a $5 million fund, with claimed payments ranging from about $100 up to $5,000 and a February 23, 2026 deadline, and it notes that proof may not be required, a common feature in consumer data-breach settlements designed to make participation easier for affected patients. The lawsuit was filed because plaintiffs typically allege that the organization failed to implement reasonable cybersecurity safeguards and/or failed to detect and contain the intrusion promptly, exposing patients to an increased risk of fraud and the time and expense of monitoring and recovery. Its significance is less about proving a hacker’s identity and more about accountability—whether a healthcare provider met industry expectations for protecting protected health information (PHI) and personally identifiable information (PII), and whether affected individuals deserve compensation and credit/identity monitoring. Cases like this resemble many recent healthcare breach settlements involving clinics, hospitals, and vendors, and they play out against a regulatory backdrop that includes HIPAA’s Privacy and Security Rules (requiring administrative, physical, and technical safeguards) and state breach-notification laws; while HIPAA itself doesn’t give patients a direct right to sue, class actions often proceed under state consumer-protection, negligence, and contract theories, reinforcing pressure across the healthcare industry to improve security controls, vendor oversight, encryption, and incident response readiness.