Four major privacy incidents captured the attention of media outlets in the past two days.
While media outlets reported on the following breaches in the past 48 hours, healthcare organizations provided notifications to HHS as early as February.
Here are the incidents, presented in order of number of patients affected.
1. Pennsylvania gastroenterology practice notifies 93k patients of privacy breach
Harrisburg (Pa.) Gastroenterology on March 17 determined an unauthorized individual may have accessed the practice's patient information.
2. Hacker slaps Memphis physician's office with ransom demand
Memphis, Tenn.-based Primary Care Specialists on Feb. 27 experienced a malware attack and ransom demand affecting 65,000 individuals.
3. EHR database hack affects 14k patients at NJ infertility center
Millburn, N.J.-based Diamond Institute for Infertility & Menopause on Feb. 27 discovered an unauthorized individual gained access to a third-party server containing an EHR database.
4. 7,000+ people affected in New York hospital data breach
At least 7,000 medical records from New York City-based Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center were exposed by a third-party vendor.