Vidant Health Foundation reports security breach involving some patient information

Vidant Medical Center in Greenville is the health system’s flagship hospital. [photo courtesy Vidant Health]

A company that provides services to Vidant Health was hit with a security breach earlier this year that included information used by the Vidant Health Foundation for fundraising efforts.

According to a news release, Blackbaud, Inc., which provides customer relationship management and financial services tools for fundraising purposes to thousands of schools, non-profits and health systems, notified Vidant on July 16 that an unauthorized individual had gained access to Blackbaud’s systems between February 7 and May 20, 2020.

“Blackbaud further informed us that the unauthorized individual may have acquired backup copies of databases used by its customers, including a backup of a database the Vidant Health Foundation uses for fundraising efforts,” the company said Monday.

Vidant said they have reason to believe that it contained some of patient information, including name, address, telephone number, email address, age, dates and departments of service, name of treating physicians and health insurance status.

“Social Security numbers or credit card information were not part of the data we store on the Blackbaud database and were not involved in the incident,” according to Vidant.

Blackbaud has reported it has no reason to believe any personal data involved in the incident went beyond the unauthorized entity; was or will be misused; or will be disseminated or otherwise made available publicly.

“Though we are not aware of any misuse of the information involved in the incident, we recommend those affected review the statements they receive from their healthcare providers. If someone sees services they did not receive, please contact the provider immediately,” Vidant said.

Vidant added they are examining the company’s relationship with Blackbaud and evaluating security safeguards.

“We deeply regret any inconvenience the incident may cause and please know we remain committed to transparency and to protecting privacy,” Vidant said.

A dedicated call center has been established to answer any questions those affected may have at (888) 977-0614, Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. (excluding major U.S. holidays).

Para la versión en español de este aviso, llame al (888) 977-0614 lunes a viernes de 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

This story originally appeared on OBXToday.com. Read More local stories here.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*