On May 24, 2023, UI Community HomeCare, a subsidiary of University of Iowa Health System, filed a notice of data breach with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights after learning that confidential consumer information that had been entrusted to the company was subject to unauthorized access. Based on the company’s official filing, the incident resulted in an unauthorized party gaining access to consumers’ names, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers, and protected health information. After confirming that consumer data was leaked, UI Community HomeCare began sending out data breach notification letters to all 67,897 individuals who were impacted by the recent data security incident.
If you received a data breach notification from UI Community HomeCare, it is essential you understand what is at risk and what you can do about it. As we’ve discussed in previous posts, U.S. healthcare providers have recently experienced a tremendous number of cyberattacks. For the most part, this is due to the fact that healthcare companies possess a wealth of highly sensitive patient information that can easily be used by hackers to commit identity theft and other types of fraud. To learn more about how to protect yourself from becoming a victim of fraud or identity theft and what your legal options are in the wake of the UI Community HomeCare data breach, reach out to a data breach lawyer.
What We Know So Far About the UI Community HomeCare Breach
News of the UI Community HomeCare data breach is still fresh; however, what we know at this point comes from the company’s filing with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights as well as a notice posted on the company’s website. According to these sources, on March 23, 2023, UI Community HomeCare learned that certain files on its computer system were encrypted. In response, UI Community HomeCare launched an internal investigation to learn more about the incident.
The UI Community HomeCare investigation confirmed that an unauthorized party was able to gain access to the company’s computer network on March 23, 2023. It was later determined that some of the files that were compromised contained confidential information belonging to certain individuals.
Upon discovering that sensitive consumer data was made available to an unauthorized party, UI Community HomeCare began to review the affected files to determine what information was compromised and which consumers were impacted. While the breached information varies depending on the individual, it may include your name, date of birth, address, phone number, medical record number, referring physician, dates of service, health insurance information, billing and claims information, medical history information, diagnosis information and treatment information.
On May 24, 2023, UI Community HomeCare sent out data breach letters to all individuals whose information was compromised as a result of the recent data security incident.
More Information About UI Community HomeCare
UI Community HomeCare is a subsidiary of University of Iowa Health System, a large healthcare system based out of Iowa City, Iowa. The company provides home healthcare services to patients, including delivering durable medical equipment and providing infusion therapy. The University of Iowa Health System is one of the largest healthcare systems in Iowa, with more than 250 specialty clinics and sub-clinics. University of Iowa Health System employs more than 16,500 people and generates approximately $1.8 billion in annual revenue.
