By VERNON ROBISON
Moapa Valley Progress
Community Health Systems (CHS), the second biggest for-profit U.S. hospital chain and the company that owns Mesa View Regional Hospital in Mesquite, was the target of a criminal cyber-attack in recent months, according to the company.
In a recent statement, the company said that Chinese hackers had stolen the social security numbers, names and addresses of an approximate 4.5 million patients who received services from physicians affiliated with the company over the past five years. This may include patients seen at the Mesa View Medical Group in Mesquite, according to a written statement released by the Mesa View Hospital administration on Monday.
“Identification data belonging to some patients was transferred out of our affiliated national data-base in a criminal cyber-attack by a foreign-based intruder,” the statement reads. “The transferred information did not include any medical information or credit card information, but it did include names, addresses, birthdates, telephone numbers and social security numbers.”
It was the Mesa View Medical Group practice which was affected in the data breach. Patient information for the Mesa View Regional Hospital was not compromised, according to the hospital statement.
The attacks occurred back in April and June, the company said in a U.S. regulatory filing. The intruder was believed to be a group out of China that bypassed the company’s security system and was most likely looking for intellectual property such as information regarding device and equipment manufacturing.
The company said that it has is working closely with federal law enforcement authorities in a full investigation of the matter to bring “the prosecution of those determined to be responsible for this attack.”
“The company has completed the eradication of the malware from its systems and finalized the implementation of other remediation efforts that are designed to protect against future intrusions of this type,” said the CHS regulatory filing.
All affected Mesa View Medical Group patients are being notified by letter prior to August 31. Each will be offered free identity theft protection, according to the Mesa View statement.
“We take very seriously the security and confidentiality of private patient information and we sincerely regret any concern or inconvenience that this event may cause for our patients,” said the local statement.
