Data breach affecting 12,600 patients reported at Beaufort hospital. What happened?
Over 12,600 patients were affected by a data breach at Beaufort Memorial Hospital in early August, the hospital confirmed Wednesday.
The medical center reported the breach to federal officials on Oct. 2.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights is investigating the case, according to federal data. OCR regularly reviews health care data breaches.
Courtney McDermott, a spokesperson for BMH, in a statement Wednesday wrote that the hospital does not believe the “potential disclosure” resulted in any harm to patients.
Here’s what happened, according to McDermott:
BMH began to notify 12,636 patients in early August of an error related to billing and collections notices mailed out on Aug. 1 after discovering the issue two days later.
The names and financial account numbers in those letters did not correspond with delivery addresses, the hospital found during an internal review.
No Social Security numbers, credit card or bank account information, dates of birth, insurance information or medical treatment information were included in the letters, McDermott wrote.
The U.S. Postal Service returned many of the notices as undeliverable.
“The hospital has taken steps to mitigate any unintended disclosures of personal information,” McDermott added.
BMH is providing “additional education” to staff about the matter, is shredding and securely disposing of returned letters and is using a two-factor authentication process for callers who received letters and had questions about their accounts.
An Office for Civil Rights spokesperson did not immediately respond to a phone call Wednesday.
