Some St. Joseph Hospital patients may have had their personal files unknowingly accessed in a data breach affecting the vendor Covenant Health in May.
According to spokesperson Karen R. Sullivan, Covenant Health’s IT services were accessed by an unauthorized party on May 18. Patients who received services from St. Joseph Hospital and the Bangor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, St. Mary’s Health System and St. Mary’s d’Youville Pavilion in Lewiston, and St. Andre Health Care in Biddeford may have been affected.
The compromised files would have contained information about patient addresses, dates of birth, medical record numbers, Social Security numbers, treatment information such as diagnoses, dates of treatment, type of treatment and health insurance information.
Covenant Health is offering credit monitoring and identity theft protection to any patients who may have been affected. Patients are also asked to review and monitor their documents for any suspicious activity, including billing for services they did not request or receive.
Patients who were knowingly affected by the breach have been notified by mail being sent Friday.
Anyone with questions or concerns can contact the Covenant Health helpline, toll free, at 1-855-361-0344. The line is available Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern Time, excluding holidays.