Winslow Memorial Hospital d/b/a Little Colorado Medical Center

Breach at Winslow Memorial Hospital d/b/a Little Colorado Medical Center

Winslow Memorial Hospital, doing business as Little Colorado Medical Center (LCMC), experienced a data breach where an unauthorized individual gained access to their systems from March 7, 2022, to April 21, 2022. The hospital became aware of suspicious activity on its network on April 21, 2022, and initiated an investigation into the incident[1][17]. The investigation confirmed that an unauthorized actor accessed parts of the hospital’s IT systems during the specified period[5][17].

Upon discovery, LCMC took immediate steps to secure its systems and began an investigation with the assistance of third-party forensic specialists. They also notified federal law enforcement and will be reporting the incident to relevant state and federal regulators[1]. The hospital is in the process of reviewing the breached data to confirm what information was leaked and to whom it belonged. Once the investigation is complete, LCMC will send out data breach notification letters to all individuals impacted by the security incident[5].

LCMC has also implemented additional technical security measures to strengthen their system against future threats and is enhancing existing data privacy policies and procedures[1]. Affected individuals are encouraged to review their account statements and credit reports for signs of unauthorized activity and consider placing a fraud alert or credit freeze on their files[1][5].

The hospital has offered identity restoration services through Experian IdentityWorks for 24 months from the date of the notification letter. This service includes assistance in resolving issues of fraud that occurred due to the incident[20].

Little Colorado Medical Center is a 25-bed, not-for-profit critical access hospital located in Winslow, Arizona, providing primary inpatient and outpatient services to over 32,000 residents in northeast Arizona[14]. The data breach at LCMC is one of several significant healthcare data breaches reported in Arizona[23].

Citations:

1. https://www.lcmcwmh.com/Data-Event-Info
2. https://www.ibm.com/topics/data-breach
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9483965/
4. https://www.usace.army.mil/About/History/Historical-Vignettes/Relief-and-Recovery/149-September-11-Aftermath/
5. https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/winslow-memorial-hospital-notifies-8754328/
6. https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/definition/data-breach
7. https://www.ihi.europa.eu/projects-results/health-spotlights/impact-patients-research
8. https://www.turkestrauss.com/2023/05/31/little-colorado-medical-center-data-breach-investigation/
9. https://usa.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/data-breach
10. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6682486/
11. https://www.myinjuryattorney.com/winslow-memorial-hospital-d-b-a-little-colorado-medical-center-data-breach-investigation/
12. https://www.fortinet.com/resources/cyberglossary/data-breach
13. https://medhealthoutlook.com/what-is-the-impact-of-patient-outcomes/
14. https://www.lcmcwmh.com
15. https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/data-breach-response-guide-business
16. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/patient-safety
17. https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/cybersecurity/hacker-access-arizona-hospitals-network
18. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/what-is-data-breach/
19. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40271-022-00583-x
20. https://www.mass.gov/doc/assigned-data-breach-number-29680-little-colorado-medical-center/download
21. https://commission.europa.eu/law/law-topic/data-protection/reform/rules-business-and-organisations/obligations/what-data-breach-and-what-do-we-have-do-case-data-breach_en
22. https://implementationscience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13012-018-0784-z
23. https://stacker.com/arizona/biggest-health-care-data-breaches-you-should-know-about-arizona
24. https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/security/what-is-a-data-breach/
25. https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6963-14-249