Third-party error leaves data of 25K accessible online
The data of 25,000 Highland-Cashiers Hospital patients was inadvertently left accessible online but the facility isn't calling it a data breach becuase "there's no evidence that the information was accessed or used in any way," hospital president Craig James, told WLOS.
The Highlands, N.C., hospital contracts with TruBridge, the wholly owned services subsidiary of CPSI, to handle specialized computer services. On Sept. 29, the hospital conducted a data security screening that found TruBridge left servers containing information such as names, addresses, birth dates, treatment information, diagnoses, health insurance information and some Social Security numbers accessible online.
Highlands-Cashiers hospital hired forensic computer investigators who found evidence that the information was accessed. The servers were secured immediately.
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.