An email phishing scheme has led to a data breach impacting 3,184 patients of Wyoming Medical Center.
An employee at the Casper-based provider opened a phishing email on Feb. 22 and clicked on the link, while a second employee opened another phishing email, according to the Casper Star Tribune.
Whoever was responsible for the phishing email had access to the employees' email accounts for 15 minutes, the organization's chief compliance officer told the newspaper.
The accessible records included patients' names, medical record account numbers, dates of hospital service, birth dates and some medical information. Personal addresses, Social Security numbers and insurance information were not in the email records. Those responsible never had access to the hospital EMR system.
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.