Hospital reports records breach

RITZVILLE — East Adams Rural Healthcare officials are mum on a breach of the hospital’s records.

The breach occurred on or about Sept. 12, when hospital officials were alerted to “anomalous activity,” officials reported in a public notice posted on the hospital website.

The notice said employees contained the computer systems and “security experts” were called for assistance. However, it did not identify the security company called in to investigate the breach.

East Adams Rural Healthcare operates under the auspices of the Adams County Public Hospital District No. 2. The public hospital board includes Chairman John Kragt, Vice Chairman Eric Walker, Secretary Riley Hille and Commissioners Matt Kubik and Dan Duff.

As of press time, hospital administrators had not updated online meeting records; moreover, they failed to return telephone calls seeking information on how many records were affected, whether the breach involved personal health or financial records, where the breach originated or what steps they were taking to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

“At this time, EARH investigation into the incident and what specific information was impacted is ongoing,” the brief public notice said. “However, information on the impacted systems may include individual names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, medical information and health insurance information.”

The notice said the hospital did not have any evidence of any fraud resulting from the breach.

“EARH also recommends that its clients review the explanation of benefits statements that they receive from their health insurance providers and follow up on any items not recognized,” the notice said.

As of press time, documentation on the cost to hire the third-party experts and any explanation of how the breach may affect hospital-goers was unavailable.