Patients of Geisinger Health whose personal data was breached in 2023 by a former Nuance Communications Inc. employee could be eligible for part of a $5 million settlement a judge gave preliminary approval for this week in U.S. Middle District Court recently.

Max Vance, also known as Andre J. Burk, was charged with accessing data of 1.26 million Geisinger patients on Nov. 27, 2023, two days after Nuance fired him for unrelated misconduct, according to court documents.

Vance, aka Andre J. Burk, is charged with obtaining information from a protected computer and has pleaded not guilty. Vance is representing himself and is incarcerated at the Lycoming County Prison. His trial is scheduled for Jan. 5, according to Pennlive.com.

The data included patients’ name, date of birth, address, admit and discharge code, medical record number, race, gender, phone number and care location.Geisinger and the software company said it did not appear to include Social Security numbers, Pennlive.com reported.

U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann was asked to grant preliminary approval of the settlement reached in July.

The many lawsuits brought against the health system and a former Microsoft-owned computer software company employee were consolidated in a class action.

The two companies did not admit any wrongdoing or liability.

Geisinger said it discovered in November 2023 that former Nuance Communications employee Max Vance of El Cajon, California, formerly of Philadelphia, accessed patient information two days after he was fired for unrelated misconduct. His access to Geisinger’s records was then permanently disconnected.

Terms of the proposed settlement included the creation of a $5 million fund to be used to pay approved claims, administrative expenses, attorneys’ fees, litigation expenses and class representative service awards.

Participating class members will have the option to select either of these two payment options:

• Reimbursement of documented out-of-pocket losses up to $5,000 that are more likely than not attributable to the data incident.

• A cash payment.

In addition, the class members may elect to receive a code for a one-year enrollment in a credit/medical monitoring and identity theft protection service.

Five who filed individual suits that were consolidated are each to receive $2,000 in representative service awards for their assistance in the litigation.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys say they intend to request fees up to 33.33 percent of the settlement fund plus reimbursement for litigation costs.

Geisinger and Nuance, in agreeing to the settlement, deny any wrongdoing or liability.

Nuance is a computer software technology corporation based in Massachusetts that licenses certain software and provides related professional services to Geisinger.