Gulf Coast Cath Lab patients experience unauthorized access of personal information

Published 12:07 am Tuesday, July 21, 2020

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Three weeks of unauthorized access to patients’ information took at Gulf Coast Cath Lab of Port Arthur, officials announced.

National Cardiovascular Partners is the managing partner of Gulf Coast Cath Lab.

In a release Friday, Partners said an unauthorized individual obtained access to an employee’s email account April 27. Officials were made aware of the breach May 19, the same day access to the email account was terminated.

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Partners conducted an extensive review of the employee’s email account to determine if any emails contained personal information.

“We identified emails containing certain names, addresses, dates of birth, dates relating to the provision of medical services or the payment for services, Social Security numbers, medical history and diagnosis information, prescription information, health provider information, insurance numbers, and medical record numbers for some patients at some of our partnering clinics,” a company release said.

“At this time, we are not aware of any unauthorized viewing or misuse of our patients’ information. All available evidence suggests that the unauthorized individual’s purpose was to attempt to commit financial fraud against (National Cardiovascular Partners) — not to seek and obtain any personal information about patients.”

Any individuals who receive an individual notice from National Cardiovascular Partners or who might otherwise be concerned about identity theft are encouraged to regularly review statements from their accounts and to periodically obtain their credit report from one or more of the national credit reporting companies.

Individuals may obtain a copy of their credit report once every 12 months by either visiting annualcreditreport.com, calling toll free at 1-877-322-8228 or completing an Annual Credit Report Request Form at consumer.ftc.gov.

Individuals who have received care at an National Cardiovascular Partners affiliated clinic and have not received a notification letter may call 833-281-4826 to determine whether their information has been identified as being involved.