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Data breach at HCA Healthcare impacting seven hospitals and clinics on the Treasure Coast

Gianna Montesano and Samantha Neely, Treasure Coast Newspapers
·2 min read

ST. LUCIE COUNTY ― Approximately 11 million HCA Healthcare patients' information was leaked in a breach, impacting seven HCA clinics and hospitals here, according to HCA Healthcare officials.

HCA Healthcare officials announced Monday that the data breach, with a list of patients' information, was discovered on an online forum for sale by an unknown party, and affected millions of people. Seven St. Lucie HCA sites were impacted:

  • HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital

  • HCA Florida St. Lucie Hospital

  • HCA Florida Fort Pierce Orthopedics

  • HCA Florida Fort Pierce Surgical Specialists

  • HCA Florida Trauma Specialists ― Fort Pierce

  • HCA Florida St. Lucie Medical Specialists

  • HCA Florida Lawnwood Bariatric Specialists

Throughout Florida, 47 HCA Healthcare locations were impacted by the breach. HCA Healthcare has locations in St. Lucie and Indian River County. The HCA Florida Vero Beach Emergency location in Vero Beach was on the list of facilities impacted by the breach.

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Officials learned about the unauthorized person's claims on an online forum on July 5, shortly after the posting was made. HCA immediately activated incident-response protocols to understand and assess the situation, according to their statement.

A local HCA Healthcare representative did not respond to a request for comment.

What information does the HCA Healthcare leak include?

The list contains information used for email messages, such as reminders that patients may wish to schedule an appointment, and education on healthcare programs and services, officials said. That patient information includes:

  • Name, city, state and ZIP code

  • Email, telephone number, date of birth, gender

  • Service date, location and next appointment date

HCA Healthcare data breach: What info was not included in the leak?

  • Clinical information such as treatment, diagnosis and condition

  • Payment information, such as credit card and account numbers

  • Sensitive information, such as passwords, driver’s licenses and Social Security numbers

What should I do if my information was in a data breach?

HCA Healthcare will offer credit-monitoring and identity-protection services where appropriate, officials said, although those details are still unavailable, they said

They also encourage patients to remain vigilant in identifying calls, emails or texts that appear to be spam or fraudulent. Patients also never should open links or attachments sent from untrusted sources.

According to security company McAfee, some further tips to protect yourself after a data breach are:

  • Change your passwords and use two-factor authentication.

  • Keep an eye on your accounts.

  • Sign up for an identity-protection service.

How can I get additional details of the HCA Healthcare data breach?

HCA Healthcare has created a dedicated webpage ― at hcahealthcare.com/privacyupdate ― to keep patients informed.

Gianna Montesano is TCPalm’s trending reporter. You can contact her at gianna.montesano@tcpalm.com, 772-409-1429, or follow her on Twitter @gonthescene.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: HCA Healthcare data breach impacting seven St. Lucie locations