12 recent data breaches

Staff -

The following data breaches were reported in the past seven weeks, starting with the most recent.

1. Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston is notifying patients that their medical data has been breached after a laptop and cell phone were stolen from a BWH physician in an armed robbery.

2. Central Dermatology Center in Chapel Hill, N.C., notified more than 76,000 patients of a potential data breach after discovering one of its servers was attacked by malicious software.

3. Ashland, Ky.-based Bon Secours Health System notified nearly 700 patients of a potential data breach after discovering a former employee inappropriately accessed the system's billing database.

4. Visionworks, a subsidiary of Pittsburgh-based payer Highmark, reported a missing computer server, prompting a data breach notification affecting approximately 75,000 patients.

5. Miami-based Jessie Trice Community Health Center notified nearly 8,000 patients that their identifying information has been compromised after discovering a medical identity theft operation that occurred in July.

6. Penn Highlands Brookville (Pa.) reported a potential data breach after discovering a third-party intruder may have gained access to a server containing protected health information.

7. University of California Davis Health System notified patients of a potential data breach after an unknown source gained access to a provider's email account.

8. Health officials in Colorado inadvertently compromised the protected health information of 15,000 patients in a mailing error.

9. Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health reported a data breach affecting more than 2,000 patients after the health system inadvertently mailed patient letters to the wrong addresses.

10. The South Texas Veterans Health Care System in San Antonio experienced a data breach affecting approximately 4,000 veterans. The VA was mailing letters to veterans regarding the new hydrocodone combination federal rule, but the letters were accidently printed double-sided, displaying the information of one patient on one side of the page and the information of another patient on the other side of the page.

11. Touchstone Medical Imaging in Brentwood, Tenn., notified patients some billing information may have been temporarily available on the Internet.

12. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles increased the number of affected individuals from a previous data breach to 33,000 patients. The hospital originally reported 500 patients' protected health information was compromised after an unencrypted laptop was stolen from an employee's home in June.

More articles on data breaches:

6 considerations for a hospital’s playbook to combat data breaches
The individual cost of a data breach: $19k
10 strategies to reduce data breach risks

Copyright © 2024 Becker's Healthcare. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy. Cookie Policy. Linking and Reprinting Policy.