Second-largest HIPAA breach on record impacts 4.5M

Beth Walsh | | Health Exec | Cybersecurity

An estimated 4.5 million patients of Community Health Systems (CHS) have been potentially impacted by a computer hacker.

The Franklin, Tenn.-based hospital company filed a statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, reporting that a hacker in China bypassed the company’s security measures, most likely in April and June.

According to The Tennesseean, CHS worked with cybersecurity company Mandiant to help address the threat. Data affected in the breach are non-medical but do include patient names, addresses, birthdates, telephone numbers and Social Security numbers.

CHS is the largest hospital company in the U.S. with 206 hospitals in 29 states, 19 of which are in Tennessee.

The incident is the second largest HIPAA breach ever reported and the largest hacking-related HIPAA data breach ever reported, according to data from the Office for Civil Rights.

 

Beth Walsh,

Editor

Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.

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