New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health is facing a lawsuit for a data breach that affected 3.9 million people, Law360 reported Nov. 17.
A proposed class-action lawsuit was filed in federal court alleging that Northwell was negligent in protecting its patients' protected health information from a breach on a medical transcription service, Perry Johnson & Associates, which is used by the health system.
Although none of Northwell's systems were affected by the cyberattack on the vendor, Northwell was notified by Perry Johnson & Associates that files containing records of Northwell's patients were copied from its network.
A spokesperson for the health system told Becker's via email that while there is no evidence of subsequent misuse of the information obtained from PJ&A's network, Northwell is providing complimentary identity theft protection services to all affected patients.
Chicago-based Cook County Health was also affected by the breach on PJ&A and decided to sever its relationship with the company due to the incident.