Murfreesboro Medical Clinic (MMC), a healthcare provider in Tennessee, disclosed that it discovered a data-security incident around April 2023 that may have exposed patients’ private information, and it later notified affected individuals. Incidents like this have become increasingly common in healthcare because medical records contain high-value data and providers often rely on complex networks of vendors, legacy systems, and always-on access to support patient care. The class action settlement described on the MMC settlement site offers eligible people—generally those who received a breach notice—payments of up to $500, reflecting the costs and risks consumers can face after a breach, such as identity theft monitoring, account changes, and time spent addressing potential misuse of their information. The lawsuit was filed because plaintiffs typically allege that the organization failed to implement reasonable cybersecurity safeguards and that the breach created a real risk of fraud or identity theft, even if direct misuse isn’t always immediately visible. Its significance is that it follows a growing pattern of healthcare breach litigation where settlements provide modest cash compensation and often include commitments to improve security controls, recognizing that prevention and rapid response matter as much as reimbursement. More broadly, these cases sit within a regulatory backdrop that includes HIPAA’s Privacy and Security Rules and the HITECH Act’s breach-notification requirements, which set expectations for protecting electronic health information and promptly informing patients when it may be compromised—standards that frequently shape both the allegations and the remedies in healthcare data breach settlements.