Cybersecurity

Prestera Center for Mental Health Services in Huntington, W.Va., began notifying more than 3,700 patients Dec. 31 of an email security incident that exposed some of their protected health information.

Towson, Md.-based Greater Baltimore Medical Center HealthCare began restoring its EHR system Jan. 6 after a December ransomware attack shut down many of its IT systems. 

Mattapan (Mass.) Community Health Center began notifying patients Dec. 28 of a security incident that exposed some of their personal information.

Lake Regional Healthcare in Fergus Falls, Minn., experienced a ransomware attack in December that disrupted its computer system.

In December, 40 organizations reported to HHS that more than 3.97 million individuals were affected by data breaches.

In 2020, 527 healthcare organizations reported to HHS more than 21 million individuals being affected by data breaches.

More than a million patients' information was exposed this year when a hacker gained access to Mednax business email accounts.

Here are the healthcare provider malware, ransomware and phishing incidents Becker's Hospital Review reported on in December:

The Office for Civil Rights issued its 13th settlement Dec. 22 for its HIPAA Right of Access Initiative.

An email hack at EyeMed, a company that health plans contract with to provide vision benefits, led to a data breach that affected at least 484,157 Aetna members and more than a thousand BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee members.