Lubbock (Texas) Heart & Surgical Hospital is notifying patients about a July data security incident that disrupted some of its IT systems and compromised the protected health information of 23,379 patients.
On July 12, the surgical center learned of the breach and blocked the unauthorized party to secure systems and contain the issue, according to a notice detailing the incident. Lubbock Heart & Surgical Hospital began notifying patients Sept. 9.
The hospital investigated the incident with forensics experts and contacted law enforcement.
The investigation determined the unauthorized party accessed some hospital systems between July 11 and 12 and attempted to copy files.
"The investigation could not determine whether the unauthorized party did, in fact, access or copy any files but was unable to rule it out," the notice said.
The patient information accessed by the unauthorized party could include names, contact information, demographic information, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, diagnosis and treatment information, prescription information, medical record numbers, provider names, dates of service and health insurance information.
Lubbock Heart recommends patients who may have been impacted should review statements from their health insurers and contact the insurer immediately if they see services they did not receive.
Patients whose Social Security numbers may have been affected will also receive complimentary credit monitoring and identity protection services through Experian, according to the notice.