Howard Memorial Hospital Provides Notice of Data Security Event
Howard Memorial Hospital (“HMH”) issued notice on its website of a
recent data security event, which is still under investigation, that may impact the confidentiality and security of information related to certain patients as well as current of former employees of HMH.
On December 4, 2022, HMH became aware of suspicious activity within its computer network, and allegations made by an unknown actor that data had been stolen from the HMH network. Steps were promptly taken to secure HMH’s network, and an investigation began with assistance from outside cybersecurity specialists to determine the nature and scope of this activity and to safely maintain full operational functionality so HMH could continue to treat patients. Although our investigation is still ongoing, we learned that certain files were potentially stolen from our network by an unknown actor between November 14, 2022 and December 4, 2022.
HMH is working diligently to perform a comprehensive review of at-risk files in order to identify those current and former patients, and any current and former employees, whose information may have been impacted by this event. Once this comprehensive review is complete, HMH will continue to work as quickly as possible to mail a notification letter directly to potentially impacted individuals, which will include access to free credit monitoring and identity protection services.
The types of information potentially impacted for patients includes name, contact information, date of birth, Social Security number, health insurance information, medical record number (MRN), medical history, diagnosis, treatment information, and physician name. The types of information potentially impacted for current and former HMH employees includes name, contact information, date of birth, Social Security number, and direct deposit bank account information.
Notice was also provided to federal law enforcement and will be provided to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as required.
For individuals seeking additional information regarding this event, please call the dedicated assistance line we have established at 1-833-570-2728, 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM Central, Monday through Friday.
Individuals can also find additional information on how they can help protect their personal information as well as obtain additional resources, on the HMH website: www.howardmemorial.com/public-notice HMH
encourages potentially affected current and former patients and employees to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft by reviewing account statements and explanations of benefits for unusual activity and report any suspicious activity promptly to your insurance company, health care provider, or financial institution.
HMH takes this event and the security of information in their care very seriously. As part of its ongoing commitment to the privacy of personal information received from its patients, HMH is working to review its existing policies and procedures and to implement additional administrative and technical safeguards to further secure the information in its system.
