HCA Healthcare CEO Sam Hazen addressed what he called the “multiple class action lawsuits” against the healthcare system due to a recent data breach, Helathcare Finance reports.
“On July 10, we announced that we had recently discovered a list of certain information with respect to some of our patients was made available by an unknown and unauthorized party on an online forum,” Hazen said during a Q2 earnings call on Thursday. “We have confirmed that the list does not include clinical information, payment information or other sensitive information like passwords, driver’s license or social security numbers. Our forensic investigation is ongoing, but this event appears to be a theft from an external storage location that was exclusively used to format e-mail messages.
“We are in the process of notifying all affected patients in accordance with our legal and regulatory obligations. And not unexpectedly, we have been named as a defendant in multiple class action lawsuits. This incident has not caused any disruption to our day-to-day operations nor do we believe it will materially impact our business or financial results. HCA Healthcare believes the privacy of its patients is a vital part of its mission and remains committed to maintaining the security of their personal information.”
On or about July 5, an unauthorized party obtained from an HCA external storage location exclusively used to automate the formatting of email messages a list of information pertaining to patients and made it available on an online forum, according to the lawsuit. Read more.
