UC San Diego Health has notified 619 patients that their protected health information may have been compromised as part of the massive Nuance Communications data breach.
Nuance discovered that an unauthorized third party accessed one of its medical transcription platforms between Nov. 20, 2017 and Dec. 9, 2017. An investigation revealed a former Nuance employee breached the company's servers and accessed the personal information of about 45,000 people. Federal law enforcement had requested that affected organizations delay notifying patients.
In May, the San Francisco Department Health Department notified 895 patients who were seen at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital or Laguna Honda Hospital — both of which are part of the San Francisco Health Network — that their information had been compromised in the same incident.
The San Francisco Health Department said the data had not been misused. The information included patients' names, dates of birth, medical record numbers, patient numbers and information dictated by the provider such as patient conditions, assessments, diagnoses, treatment, care plans and dates of service. Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers or financial account numbers were not jeopardized, the health department said.