
MAY 21, 2015, 5:51 PM LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2015, 5:56 PM
BY COLLEEN DISKIN AND MARY JO LAYTON
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
Three Bergen County hospitals are alerting thousands of patients that their personal information may have been stolen by a billing clerk under federal investigation.
Valley Hospital in Ridgewood (pictured), Englewood Hospital and Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck have informed patients of a data breach.
The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, and Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck have informed patients treated in their emergency departments that their names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth may have been illegally given out by a company contracted to handle physician billing, officials said.
An employee at Medical Management, LLC, which provides billing services to 40 providers in several states, worked at the company from Feb. 2013 until March 2015 and copied personal information and illegally passed it on, officials said.
article says “Officials at Holy Name and Englewood Hospital said 1,500 patients at each of their hospitals received warning letters from Medical Management about the breach. ..”Valley, which treats about 73,000 patients in its ER each year, did not provide a number.'”
So DID Valley send notice letters of this breach or NOT?? to affected patients in its ER from Feb 2013 to Mar 2015??
Haven’t received any notice, and we’ve used Valley ER 4 times during 2013 to 2014. Dose the breach extend to ALL of Valley Health Care Systems??
this is not good news.
The Record updated article ..Last updated: Friday, May 22, 2015, 3:49 PM
“On Friday, hospital officials stressed that their internal records were safe; only the personal information that had been given to the outside billing company by the physician groups who staff their ERs had been compromised. The hospitals were not responsible for hiring the outside billing company.”
“All of those were who affected have been notified, said Valley spokeswoman Maureen Curran Kleinman.”
“If you got a letter, Valley recommends that you follow the instructions in the letter – secure your free credit protection,’’ she said. “If you didn’t get a letter, you are not at risk.’’
James,
I’m handling the data breach case from my Ridgewood law office. Plz post on your blog. Thx & best regards. Jos. 201-926-9200
Sent from the iPhone 4 of Joseph R. Santoli, Esq.