South Country Health Alliance Notifies Consumers of Data Security Incident

OWATONNA, Minn., Dec. 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- South Country Health Alliance ("SCHA") has become aware of a data security incident that may have involved the personal information of some SCHA community members. SCHA has sent notification about this incident to potentially impacted individuals and has provided resources to assist them.

On September 14, 2020, SCHA discovered that unauthorized access to an employee email account had occurred on June 25, 2020. SCHA immediately secured the account, began an investigation, and engaged cybersecurity experts to assist with the investigation. On November 5, 2020, following a review of the contents of the email account, SCHA determined that personal information belonging to some SCHA community members may have been in the account. In response to learning this, SCHA took steps to identify current mailing addresses for the potentially impacted individuals so that SCHA could notify them and offer them complimentary credit monitoring and identity protection services.

Based on the investigation of the incident, the following personal and protected health information may have been involved in the incident: names, Social Security numbers, addresses, Medicare and Medicaid numbers, health insurance information, diagnostic or treatment information, date of death, provider name, and treatment cost information.

While SCHA is not aware of the misuse of any information impacted by this incident, on December 30, 2020 SCHA sent notice about this incident to potentially impacted members. Those letters provided information about the incident and about steps they can take to protect their personal information. SCHA also offered complimentary credit monitoring and identity protection services to potentially impacted members.

SCHA has established a toll-free call center to answer questions about the incident and to help impacted members enroll in complimentary credit monitoring and identity protection services. Call center representatives are available Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Central Time and can be reached by calling 1-833-920-3172.

The privacy and protection of personal and protected health information is a top priority for SCHA, and SCHA deeply regrets any concern or inconvenience this issue may have caused and is taking affirmative steps to prevent a similar event from occurring in the future.

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SOURCE South Country Health Alliance