Unions say Hartford Hospital violated privacy rights

The unions for state employees say Hartford Hospital violated the privacy rights of union members when it wrote letters to them regarding bitter negotiations with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, the state's largest health insurer.

The hospital wrote to patients "in an effort to use them for leverage in contentious negotiations," the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition said Wednesday. The coalition filed a health information privacy complaint on behalf of its members with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights. The state is self-insured but uses Anthem's network of medical providers.