St. Mark's Surgical Center

The covered entity (CE), St. Mark’s Surgical Center, reported a ransomware attack on its computer server. The protected health information (PHI) involved in the incident included patients’ names, addresses, dates of birth, driver licenses, social security information, diagnoses and conditions, lab results, and medications and affected approximately 33,877 individuals. The CE provided breach notification to HHS, affected individuals, and the media. Subsequent to the breach, the CE upgraded its firewall, hardened access controls, upgraded its backup and disaster recovery system, restricted remote access, and strengthened passwords. Additionally, the CE contacted law enforcement and hired external forensic investigators. During the investigation, OCR provided technical assistance on the Breach Notification Rule, and the CE revised its HIPAA policies and procedures and retrained its workforce.