Ardent Health issues cyber attack letters
Jan. 25—In a press release on Ardent Health Services website this week, it stated that its investigation on the ransomware incident that impacted its network in November of 2023, "Has revealed that an unauthorized actor extracted copies of documents that include certain individuals' personal information. At this time, we have no indication that this information has been misused."
The unauthorized actor may have accessed, viewed, or removed documents with the following types of information: patient contact information (e.g., address, phone number, email address), Social Security numbers, medical treatment information (e.g., providers, dates of service, diagnoses, prescriptions), health insurance and claims information, and Medicaid/Medicare numbers.
On Jan. 22, Ardent Health Services and its affiliated entities, which include UT Health East Texas hospitals, began mailing letters to individuals whose information may have been involved in the incident. Ardent says the data review process is ongoing and will take time to complete and as they identify additional impacted individuals, letters will be mailed to them following all applicable laws.
On November 23, 2023, Ardent Health Services discovered a ransomware incident impacting its network. Upon learning of the incident, Ardent immediately notified law enforcement, initiated its incident response plan, launched an investigation into the incident with the assistance of an outside cybersecurity firm, and began employing containment measures. Shortly thereafter, Ardent successfully terminated the unauthorized access.
All individuals whose personal information was impacted are eligible to enroll in credit monitoring and fraud-protection services through TransUnion for one year at no cost. Ardent has set up a dedicated, toll-free call center to support individuals with questions about the incident. The call center can be reached at 1-833-961-7634 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.
In addition to the investigation into this incident, Ardent says it is taking additional steps to improve its cybersecurity protections and enhance employee training stating, "We value the trust patients and team members place in us to protect the privacy and security of their information, and we sincerely regret any inconvenience or concern this incident may have caused."
For more information, visit https://ardenthealth.com/cybersecurityincident.
