By Art Gross, President and CEO, HIPAA Secure Now!
Twitter: @HIPAASecureNow
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Quest Diagnostics, one of the country’s largest blood testing providers announced that nearly 12 million patients may have had their sensitive information compromised in a data breach.
The breach occurred at one of Quest’s billing collections vendors, American Medical Collection Agency (AMCA). Quest was notified on May 14, that between August 1, 2018, and March 30, 2019, an unauthorized individual had access to AMCA’s systems.
The information stored on AMCA’s systems which may have been compromised includes financial information, medical information, and other personal information (such as Social Security Numbers). Lab test results were not accessible by AMCA, therefore were not compromised in the breach.
Complete information regarding the breach has not yet been provided to Quest.
“Quest is taking this matter very seriously and is committed to the privacy and security of our patients’ personal information. Since learning of the AMCA data security incident, we have suspended sending collection requests to AMCA,” the company stated.
This article was originally published on HIPAA Secure Now! and is republished here with permission. HIPAA Secure Now offers annual online subscriptions to help covered entities and business associates keep up with compliance. Learn more here.
