A breach of billing services vendor R-C Healthcare Management has affected nearly 550 patients from Arlington Heights, Ill.-based Northwest Community Hospital, according to the Daily Herald.
Between April 18 and June 13, Phoenix-based R-C Healthcare Management potentially made patient information, including names, social security numbers, dates of service, amounts due and amounts collected, accessible. The report did not outline how the data was made available.
The breach affected 700,000 patients across the nation. On Aug. 1, NCH discovered the information of 550 of its patients had been breached. NCH has not stated whether the patient data was stolen.
"We sincerely apologize and regret that this situation has occurred and we are taking significant steps to ensure this type of incident does not occur again," NCH said in a statement.
On Oct. 3, NCH began sending letters to affected patients, offering them two years of free credit and identity theft and fraud tracking services.