Dallas-based EmCare is notifying patients about a data breach that may have compromised the personal information of up to 60,000 patients, employees and contractors.
Four insights:
1. EmCare, the physician staffing branch of Nashville, Tenn.-based Envision Healthcare, determined Feb. 19 that an unauthorized third party gained access to several employees' email accounts, which contained names, ages, birthdays and clinical information. Some Social Security and driver's license numbers may have been compromised.
2. As many as 60,000 individuals — including 31,000 patients — may have been affected, according to Bloomberg. EmCare began notifying those individuals April 19.
3. After an internal investigation, EmCare couldn't confirm that the unauthorized party actually obtained personal information, found no evidence suggesting any information was misused, and is unaware of any fraud or identity theft that happened as a result.
4. To prevent future breaches, EmCare adopted advanced IT solutions and had employees undergo training on email and IT security.
"EmCare apologizes for any inconvenience or concern that this incident might cause. EmCare remains committed to providing patients the highest quality of care and working with healthcare partners to improve the health of communities," the organization said in a press release.
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