Idaho Falls Community Hospital is committed to protecting the privacy and security of our patients’ information. On July 3, 2023, we began mailing notification letters to certain patients whose information may have been involved in an incident that disrupted the operations of some of our IT systems.
On May 29, 2023, we learned of the incident, and we quickly blocked the unauthorized party and immediately took steps to secure our systems and contain the incident. We also launched an investigation with the assistance of third-party forensics experts and notified law enforcement. The investigation determined that an unauthorized party accessed some of our systems between April 17, 2023, and May 29, 2023. The investigation further determined that certain files were accessed or removed. We initiated a review and analysis of those files, which is ongoing, to determine their contents.
Through the ongoing analysis, we determined that the files contained information belonging to certain patients. The information varies per patient but may include some or all of the following: names, contact information, demographic information, dates of birth, medical record numbers, patient account numbers, diagnosis and treatment information, prescription information, provider names, dates of service, facilities of service, and/or health insurance information. Some patients may have also had Social Security numbers and/or driver’s license numbers involved.
Patients whose information may have been involved are encouraged to review the statements they receive from their health insurers. If they see services that they did not receive, they should contact the insurer that issued the statement immediately. Additionally, for patients whose Social Security numbers or driver’s license numbers may have been involved, we are offering complimentary credit monitoring and identity theft protection services through Kroll.
We care deeply about our communities and the patients we serve, and we take this incident very seriously. To help prevent something like this from happening again, we implemented additional safeguards and technical security measures to further protect and monitor our systems.
We also established a dedicated toll-free call center to support individuals with questions about the incident. The call center can be reached at (866) 373-7153, Monday to Friday, between 7:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mountain Time, excluding major U.S. holidays.
We regret any inconvenience this incident may cause. We look forward to continuing to provide high-quality care to our community.
