A lawsuit alleges that Lubbock (Texas) Heart & Surgical Hospital had inadequate cybersecurity practices in place when a July data breach compromised the protected health information of 23,379 current and former patients, Class Action reported Feb. 24.
The lawsuit alleges that the health system made itself an "easy target" for hackers as it had "no effective means to prevent, detect, stop, or mitigate breaches of its systems."
The breach resulted in patients' names, dates of birth, contact and demographic information, Social Security and medical record numbers, diagnosis, treatment, prescription and health insurance information, provider names and dates of service to be compromised.
According to Lubbock Heart & Surgical Hospital, the health system has implemented better cybersecurity safeguards since the breach.
The lawsuit also alleges that Lubbock Heart & Surgical Hospital waited too long to notify patients of the breach.