Assurance Health System, LLC

Assurance Health System, LLC, a medical provider specializing in short-term inpatient psychiatric care for seniors, experienced a significant data breach that compromised the sensitive personal identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI) of more than 3,500 individuals. This breach was discovered to have occurred through unauthorized access to employee email accounts over two distinct periods: one between April 8 and April 21, 2022, and another from June 10, 2021, to March 8, 2022. The types of information accessed included names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, contact information, health insurance information, and medical information such as record numbers, account numbers, prescription information, provider names, and diagnosis or treatment information. Assurance Health System began notifying affected individuals on October 28, 2022, and has recommended steps for those impacted to protect their personal information, including enrolling in free credit monitoring services provided by the company, changing passwords and security questions for online accounts, regularly reviewing account statements, monitoring credit reports, and contacting credit bureaus to request a temporary fraud alert[1].

Citations:

1. https://www.turkestrauss.com/2022/11/15/assurance-health-system-data-breach-investigation/
2. https://www.freep.com/story/news/health/2023/11/30/welltok-cyberattack-1m-corewell-patients-priority-health-members/71735567007/
3. https://www.hipaajournal.com/6-hipaa-regulated-entities-report-phishing-attacks-and-unauthorized-email-account-access/
4. https://www.sooleader.com/local-news/corewell-health-data-breach-exposes-info-of-1m-michigan-patients-7912597
5. https://www.in.gov/health/reports/QAMIS/hosrpt/ha013899.htm
6. https://www.hipaajournal.com/hipaa-violation-cases/
7. https://assurancehealthsystem.com/home/notice-of-privacy/
8. https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/healthec-data-breach-impacts-patients-7389894/
9. https://ocrportal.hhs.gov/ocr/breach/breach_report.jsf
10. https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/06/28/hhs-office-for-civil-rights-settles-hipaa-investigation-ihealth-solutions-regarding-disclosure-protected-health-information-unsecured-server-for-75-000.html
11. https://www.michigan.gov/ag/news/press-releases/2023/12/26/second-corewell-health-data-breach-exposes-info-of-one-million-michigan-patients
12. https://healthitsecurity.com/features/biggest-healthcare-data-breaches-reported-this-year-so-far
13. https://assurancehealth.org/privacy-policy/
14. https://www.theoaklandpress.com/2023/12/01/corewell-health-data-breach-affects-1-million-michiganders/
15. https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/three-us-data-breaches-show-varied-healthcare-exposure-risks-2023-02-06/
16. https://vtdigger.org/2023/06/19/16000-vermont-health-insurance-customers-affected-by-data-theft-more-than-previously-known/