Innovative Renal Care Data Breach Settlement — Do You Qualify?

A proposed $900,000 settlement would resolve consolidated claims arising from unauthorized access to certain Innovative Renal Care computer systems from February 21 through March 1, 2024. American Renal Management LLC does business as Innovative Renal Care, or IRC. It provides kidney-care and dialysis services through a network that its public patient materials say includes nearly 250 dialysis centers, more than 400 affiliated nephrologists, and health-system partnerships. Patients may interact with IRC through dialysis treatment, nephrology care, medical records, insurance claims, and billing. Employees and former employees may also have information in its systems. The case is In re American Renal Management LLC Data Breach Litigation, No. 3:25-cv-00248-EJR, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. Plaintiffs allege IRC failed to safeguard personal and health information and delayed notification after discovering suspicious activity. IRC denies every claim, wrongdoing, and liability. The court has not decided which side is right. It preliminarily approved the settlement process for notice and claims, but final approval remains unresolved. The settlement class includes about 59,400 living people who were sent IRC's incident notice or were otherwise identified as potentially affected. The data categories varied by person and may have included identity, government-ID, financial-account, tax, health-insurance, medical, billing, prescription, and treatment information. The public record does not say every person's file contained every category. A valid claimant may request up to $5,000 for documented, unreimbursed losses related to the incident and an estimated $100 pro rata cash payment. Those two cash benefits may be combined. Two years of credit and identity monitoring may be added to either or both. The $100 amount can increase or decrease depending on valid claims and the money remaining after approved costs and higher-priority benefits. No payment amount is guaranteed.

The $900,000 fund pays approved administration costs, service awards, attorneys' fees and expenses, monitoring, documented-loss claims, and pro rata payments. A claimant may combine up to $5,000 in documented monetary losses with the estimated $100 pro rata payment and may also request two years of monitoring. Documented losses require third-party records and must be unreimbursed and reasonably related to the incident or mitigation. The pro rata amount is only an estimate and may rise or fall. Benefits depend on final approval and any appeals.