Steve Alder, writing for The HIPAA Journal on October 3, reported that four HIPAA-covered entities have recently reported breaches of their email infrastructures. Southern Bone & Joint Specialists in Mississippi, Connally Memorial Medical Center in Texas, Rim Country Health and Rehabilitation in Arizona, and Michigan Masonic Home reported breaches of their email environments.
Alder wrote that Southern Bone & Joint Specialists identified unauthorized activity in May. An investigation concluded that the health information of 7162 patients had been compromised.
In a breach notice in September, Connally Memorial Center stated that the information of 1228 patients had been compromised due to unauthorized access to an employee’s email account.
The retirement village Michigan Masonic Home reported a breach of a single employee email account, which was identified in July, Alder reported. “No evidence was found to indicate unauthorized access to protected health information within the account, but the possibility of unauthorized viewing and acquisition of data could not be ruled out.”
Rim Country Health and Rehabilitation reported a hacking incident in July that affected the information of 721 patients.
