Aultman Hospital in Canton, Ohio, began notifying about 43,000 patients who were seen at its main hospital, AultWorks Occupational Medicine and some Aultman physician offices of a potential compromise of their protected health information.
The Aultman Health Foundation said it discovered March 28 that unauthorized individuals had gained access to some Aultman email accounts in February and March, according to a news release. Potentially compromised information includes patients' names, addresses, clinical information, medical record numbers and physicians' names. In some cases, the information also included Social Security numbers or driver's license numbers.
Hospital officials said there is no evidence any of the information has been misused. However, it recommends affected individuals review and monitor their account statements, explanation of benefits forms and free credit reports for any unauthorized activity. For those individuals whose Social Security numbers or driver's license numbers were compromised, Aultman is offering free credit monitoring services for one year.
Hospital officials are changing the way patient information is stored and protected by enhancing email-related security. It is also resetting passwords and making them longer and more complex, as well as re-training staff on email security.
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