Springfield, Ill.-based Hospital Sisters Health System warned patients of potentially fraudulent attempts to collect on fake hospital bills after a cybersecurity incident in late August, according to the health system’s website.
The health system halted collecting payments for outstanding bills while it recovers from the incident, but some patients have received emails, texts and phone calls from another party claiming to be HSHS representatives and seeking payments for services. The health system asked patients not to respond to “suspicious” messages, but instead to save them so investigators can find the source of the messages, Becker’s reports.
There are some HSHS partners in Wisconsin and Illinois sending bills to patients, so the health system recommended patients review bills before making payments. The health system doesn’t charge late fees.
On-site payments have been affected by the incident as well. The health system took its computer system offline and has only been able to accept cash and check payments from patients while the system recovers. Read more.
