Two weeks ago, The Messenger exclusively reported on the financial disclosure statements of former Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) filed with the Legislative Ethics Commission that he filed during his time in Albany. The forms showed his personal investments in hydro-fracking ventures in Kansas and Texas while he was simultaneously sponsoring legislation to ban fracking for oil and natural gas in New York State.
It calls into question his environmental bona fides while raising some ethical questions regarding potential investment conflicts. Now the former lawmaker faces new questions. Three weeks out from the 2023 local elections, in which Englebright is a candidate for Suffolk County Legislator, The Messenger can exclusively report on findings that may provoke legal interest.
A concerned citizen contacted The Messenger after filing a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request with the New York State Assembly. He did so after overhearing a patient agonizing over the fact that a prior authorization of her information had ended up on a government device belonging to the Fourth District Assembly office, previously occupied by Englebright. The affected patient was furious about the fact that her Social Security number and health insurance information were being sent to a random, unauthorized office, let alone a government one.
The New York State Assembly acknowledged receipt of the FOIL request in a letter dated October 6, 2023, and Assemblyman Edward Flood (R-Port Jefferson Station), who defeated Englebright last November, confirmed the citizen’s suspicions in a reply letter dated September 29, 2023:
“The Fourth District Assembly Office has received pharmacy prescriptions, laboratory results, disability claims, prior authorization requests related to medications, oncology reports, and other healthcare information intended for Susanne Meyers, the wife of former Assembly Member Steve Englebright, and Christina Stern, a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner with offices located at 290 Main Street, East Setauket, New York.”
Assemblyman Edward Flood 09/29/23
In a call with The Messenger, Flood stated that he has referred the matter to the Assembly’s Standing Committee on Ethics for appropriate guidance. He referred the matter to the correct departments and organizations as instructed by the State Assembly.
After a phone interview with The Messenger, Englebright said “it sounds like there was some information sent to my office in error. For all practical purposes, if Ed Flood had concerns, he should have called me.”
“When it was my office, we did not conduct private business through the office,” said Englebright. “I am married to Sue Meyers, perhaps somebody through the information sphere thought they could reach her by coming through my office, but they didn’t need to because she has her own communication vehicles and certainly did not set up my office as a new vehicle for receiving information – especially medical records and social security records. That was certainly not a practice that she or I had to do with.”
There are three components to this case that can be found online and through other records: the address of the practice, the government fax number, and the medical profiles of Meyers and Stern.
The Address – 290 Main Street, East Setauket
Firstly, the address of the practice that received medical records and patient information is listed as 290 Main Street in East Setauket. According to financial disclosure forms filed with the Legislative Ethics Commission, Englebright has owned the building since 1983. He lists the property as a Corporation and Family Partnership for Commercial Retail and Office space in which he has 50% ownership.
In his 2021 financial disclosure form, he not only lists the Setauket address, among several others, but also a Fort Myers, Florida, address, which he lists as a joint venture with Susanne Meyers.
The 290 Main Street address is linked with Susanne Meyers as a medical professional on Yellow Pages. The address is also linked to Christina Stern, a Nurse Practitioner in Psychiatry, on Sharecare.
The Fax Number: (631) 751-3082
The second aspect is the fax number. The District Office fax number is listed as (631) 751-3082. A quick Google search of this number will produce several results bearing former Assemblyman Steve Englebright, the top results being one produced by Yellow Pages. Additionally, the number is also linked with Christina Stern, whose connection with Meyers and the Setauket address has already been established.
Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), providers must use, under most circumstances, a National Provider Identifier (NPI) number. According to the Center for Medical Services (CMS) website:
“The NPI is a unique identification number for covered health care providers. Covered health care providers and all health plans and health care clearinghouses must use the NPIs in the administrative and financial transactions adopted under HIPAA. The NPI is a 10-position, intelligence-free numeric identifier (10-digit number). As outlined in HIPAA, covered providers must also share their NPI with other providers, health plans, clearinghouses, and any entity that may need it for billing purposes.”
Stern’s number is listed on the NPI database, HIPAA Space, and Open NPI as 1023781499. The number’s issue date is listed as July 30, 2021. This fax number is listed on all three databases with Englebright’s government fax number (631) 751-3082. Stern has linked her mandated-to-be-public NPI number with former Assemblyman Steve Englebright’s District Office fax number. These websites also list the 290 Main Street, Setauket, address as the provider practice location, the building owned by Englebright.
Violating HIPAA is an extremely serious concern for healthcare professionals. The American Medical Association (AMA) outlines a tiered list of violations and their respective penalties, ranging from “Unknowing” to “Willful Neglect.” In a case of willful neglect wherein the violation is corrected within a certain time frame, the penalty can range from a fine of $10,000-$50,000 per violation, with an annual maximum of $250,000 for repeat violations. If the neglect is not corrected, the penalties start at $50,000 per violation, with an annual maximum of $1.5 million.
Criminal violations of HIPAA are handled by the Department of Justice (DOJ). The AMA outlines: “Covered entities and specified individuals, as explained below, who “knowingly” obtain or disclose individually identifiable health information, in violation of the Administrative Simplification Regulations, face a fine of up to $50,000, as well as imprisonment up to 1 year. Offenses committed under false pretenses allow penalties to be increased to a $100,000 fine, with up to 5 years in prison.”
The Parties Involved – Stern & Meyers
Online searches can find both or either of their profiles on common health directory sites including Psychology Today, ZocDoc, Sharecare, Doximity, and others.
Tabatha Fajardo, a former legislative aide for Assemblyman Ed Flood, provided a direct comment to The Messenger, discussing the steady flow of classified materials and the eerie radio-silence from the intended recipients.
“I started working for Assemblyman Flood in February 2023. During my time there, we kept receiving medical documents that were faxed to our government machine,” says Fajardo. “We alerted both the Assembly and the involved practices or hospitals from which we received the faxes. I worked at that office until August 2023, and we would receive faxes several times a week.”
Fajardo also says that personal or medical business being conducted from within the office was not readily apparent.
“I didn’t know that Englebright was in any way implicated; we just thought people were typing in the number wrong or there was a bad link somewhere,” says Fajardo. “But as the same addressees came through, we realized these were meant for someone specific.”
Fajardo also describes the abysmal state Flood’s team received upon succeeding Steve Englebright.
“We found that his government mail was being forwarded to his personal address,” she says. “We also had no records of constituent cases. We had nothing to work with; we often needed constituents to forward us copies of whatever they had been working on with Englebright to reinitiate the process. This is not typical; you don’t mix government and political work. At the end of the day, constituents want to be done right by their officials. Regardless of transition, there needs to be that respect. You need to make sure these peoples’ lives and livelihoods are not affected because you’re embittered by loss. It gives me the impression that he didn’t care about his constituents, or that there might have been an overlap between government and personal business.”
Fajardo also says that misuse of government property was not only the norm for the office staff, but people outside the office as well.
“People would come into our office asking if they could print items or fax things through,” says Fajardo. “We would just tell them that this is a government office, and the fax machine is for intergovernmental use only.”
Summary
Former Assemblyman Steve Englebright appears to have allowed his government office and taxpayer-funded resources to be used to conduct not only personal business, but also transactions involving sensitive, personal medical information. The business was apparently conducted by his wife, Susanne Meyers, and another medical professional, Christina Stern. Stern’s multiple official online medical profiles, and those linked with NPI and HIPAA databases, list her validated NPI number along with the Fourth District Assembly Office fax number. Stern and several other professionals have practiced out of 290 Main Street in Setauket, a building Englebright has owned since 1983.
Assemblyman Ed Flood responded to a FOIL request stating, without divulging personal information, that the government office has been receiving highly sensitive medical and insurance information directed to Susanne Meyers and Christina Stern. The matter has been referred to the Assembly Ethics Committee.
Steve Englebright denies any wrongdoing without giving an explanation of how this all happened.
Steve Englebright is now running for Suffolk County Legislature’s Fifth District against Anthony Figliola (R-East Setauket) on November 7.
