Southeast Colorado Hospital District

Southeast Colorado Hospital District Data Breach

The Southeast Colorado Hospital District (SECHD) experienced a data breach that was reported on February 3, 2023, after discovering that an employee’s email account containing confidential patient information had been compromised. The breach resulted in unauthorized access to patients’ names, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, dates of birth, medical treatment or diagnosis information, and health insurance information[1].

The breach was first identified on December 6, 2022, when SECHD noticed suspicious activity within an employee’s email account. An investigation was launched to determine the extent of the data leak. It was confirmed that an unauthorized party had accessed certain files on the organization’s network, which contained sensitive patient data[1][3][7].

SECHD began reviewing the affected files to ascertain the compromised information and which consumers were impacted. The data breach affected over 1,400 individuals[3]. Following the confirmation of the data leak, SECHD sent out notification letters to all individuals whose information was compromised as a result of the security incident[1].

The hospital district, founded in 1969 and located in Springfield, Colorado, is a 23-bed acute-care facility that also operates a 40-bed long-term-care facility, a home-health agency providing hospice care, a 16-bed Alzheimer’s care unit, and an outpatient medical clinic. SECHD employs more than 216 people and generates approximately $25 million in annual revenue[1].

Affected patients may be able to recover financial compensation through a data breach lawsuit depending on the outcome of the SECHD data breach investigation[1]. Law firms are investigating the incident and may offer legal remedies to those impacted[3][9]. Patients are advised to review the breach notice, enroll in any free credit monitoring services provided by SECHD, change passwords and security questions for online accounts, regularly review account statements, monitor credit reports, and contact a credit bureau to request a temporary fraud alert[3].

Citations:

1. https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/southeast-colorado-hospital-district-4232541/
2. https://milehighcre.com/southeast-colorado-hospital-district-addition-and-renovation-breaks-ground/
3. https://www.turkestrauss.com/2023/02/08/southeast-colorado-hospital-district-data-breach-investigation/
4. https://krdo.com/news/2023/12/17/reckless-driving-sends-multiple-people-to-hospital-in-southeast-colorado-springs/
5. https://www.sechosp.org/mmenu.php
6. https://www.kktv.com/2023/10/28/two-injured-shooting-outside-gas-station-southeast-colorado-springs/
7. https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/cybersecurity/southern-colorado-hospital-district-employee-email-compromised-by-hackers.html
8. https://kffhealthnews.org/news/hospital-penalties/readmissions/
9. https://classlawdc.com/2023/02/08/southeast-colorado-hospital-district-data-breach-investigation/
10. https://www.bennet.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2023/7/bennet-announces-79-3-million-for-colorado-projects-in-senate-appropriations-bills
11. https://www.sechosp.org/getpage.php?name=events
12. https://www.chaffeecountytimes.com/obituaries/mildred-millie-meardon/article_54593876-8fab-11ee-9e56-b3c3808d3b6e.html
13. https://twitter.com/VERISDB/status/1622666913754263552
14. https://kdvr.com/news/local/watch-thousands-of-spiders-scatter-across-southeast-colorado/
15. https://www.hipaajournal.com/regal-medical-group-ransomware-attack-southeast-colorado-hospital-district-email-breach/
16. https://gazette.com/news/education/3-students-hospitalized-after-allegedly-vaping-marijuana-at-colorado-springs-middle-school/article_3f650b76-6ea8-11ee-906a-4769bcba1ecf.html