On September 24, Cook County Health and Hospitals System (CCH) in Illinois notified HHS of a breach. At the time, CCH reported that 500 patients were affected. The “500” entry is usually just a marker to indicate that the entity knows that they were required to notify HHS and individuals no later than 60 days from discovery of a reportable breach affecting more than 500 patients, but they do not yet really know how many people have been affected or need to be notified individually.
A notice on CCH’s website provides some details about a breach at an external vendor, Perry Johnson & Associates, Inc. (PJ&A). PJ&A previously provided medical transcription services for CCH.
On July 21, 2023, while still investigating their breach, PJ&A informed CCH there had been what was described as a “data security incident.” Their investigation found that in April 2023, an unauthorized individual had accessed PJ&A systems where CCH patient data was stored. CCH was notified on July 26, 2023 that personal information of CCH patients might have been affected.
CCH states that when they learned of the incident, “CCH stopped sharing data with PJ&A, and terminated its relationship with PJ&A.” CCH states that they are one of many organizations impacted by the PJ&A data security incident, yet there is no notice of any breach on PJ&A’s website at this time and DataBreaches has yet to see any other breach disclosures naming them. DataBreaches has sent an email inquiry to PJ&A seeking additional details.
On October 9, 2023, PJ&A provided CCH with the final list of affected patients. The types of protected health information appears to include names, and some combination of the following: dates of birth, addresses, medical record numbers, encounter numbers, medical information, dates/times of service and, in some records, Social Security numbers.
CCH states that they are reviewing the information and will be notifying impacted individuals as soon as possible. Their full notice can be found at https://cookcountyhealth.org/compliance-notice/
Patients who may have been affected and would like more information can call (888) 867-3881.