Personal data of about 11 million patients of HCA Healthcare Inc. – parent company of Medical City Healthcare in Dallas-Fort Worth – was exposed in an online forum, the company said Monday.
The largest U.S. hospital operator discovered a list with names, email addresses and phone numbers, birth dates and information about their appointments. It didn’t include clinical records, payment details, passwords or Social Security numbers.
Data breaches at health care companies are often considered among the most serious as they may contain some of a person’s most private, intimate information. In this case, however, the breach appeared to have been a “theft from an external storage location” that was only used to automate email messages, HCA said.
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