Mark Friedman reports:
After dealing with the financial effects of COVID-19, hospitals are facing a new threat: lawsuits following cyberattacks.
Since January, four lawsuits have been filed against both Howard Memorial Hospital of Nashville and against the Mena Hospital Commission, which operates as the Mena Regional Health System. The lawsuits allege the hospitals were negligent in failing to prevent hackers from stealing tens of thousands of patient records and their financial information.
Howard Memorial reported 53,668 people were affected by its breach, and the MRHS said 84,814 people were affected in its incident, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights.
Read more at Arkansas Business.
The Howard Memorial incident was on November 14, but was discovered on December 4 when the threat actor contacted them. The hospital later claimed the breach was discovered on January 13.
The Mena Regional Health System breach occurred in October 2021 but the health system didn’t discover it until November 2022.