Becker's Hospital Review

62 CIO / HEALTH IT Minnesota mental health facility pays ransom to restore 6.5k patients' data By Julie Spitzer R ochester, Minn.-based Associates in Psychiatry and Psychology discovered March 31 its files had been locked with a variant of ransomware that also disabled affect- ed computers' system restore functions and reformatted the network storage device where the practice kept local backups. e data stored on the affected computers included names, addresses, birthdates, Social Se- curity numbers, treatment records and insurance data, but all information was encrypted. Upon discovering the intrusion, all systems were taken off line for four days and APP launched an investigation. e organization said all evidence revealed no patient data had been viewed or copied — hackers merely wanted to collect a ransom from the facility. According to BankInfoSecurity, the mental healthcare practice decided to pay the ransom, although the publication did not disclose how much the hackers demanded or what the practice paid. However, in an email to the blog databreaches.net, Steve Patton, IT director for the practice, said the hackers initially demanded 4 bitcoin, and APP negotiated it down to .5 bitcoin, or $3,673.78, as of May 30. APP believes the hackers are from Eastern Europe and used a crypto-ransomware called Triple-M. e practice is working with the FBI to investigate the incident and recommends affected patients check their credit reports on a regular basis. n Geisinger to integrate DNA sequencing into routine clinical care By Jessica Kim Cohen D anville, Pa.-based Geisinger plans to extend its genomics efforts be- yond research and into routine clinical care, Geisinger President and CEO David T. Feinberg, MD, announced May 6 during the HLTH Con- ference in Las Vegas. Geisinger's DNA sequencing effort will launch with a 1,000-patient pilot pro- gram during the next six months. Eventually, the health system intends to rec- ommend DNA sequencing services to every patient across its facilities in Penn- sylvania and southern New Jersey. The decision builds on Geisinger's existing genomics research efforts, includ- ing its MyCode Community Health Initiative, which enrolled 200,000-plus pa- tients to donate DNA samples for precision medicine studies. Dr. Feinberg said DNA sequencing has the potential to provide patients with preventive healthcare — rather than "responsive sick care" — similar to standard screenings such as mammograms, colonoscopies and cholesterol checks. "Understanding the genome warning signals of every patient will be an es- sential part of wellness planning and health management," Dr. Feinberg said. "Geisinger patients will be able to work with their family physician to modify their lifestyle and minimize risks that may be revealed." n Data breach may have affected 500k+ patients, LifeBridge Health says By Alyssa Rege B altimore -based LifeBridge Health notified more than 500,000 pa- tients in May that their personal information may have been compro- mised during a privacy breach in Sep- tember 2016. The health system told Becker's Hos- pital Review in an emailed statement May 23 that on March 18, officials dis- covered malware on the server that hosts EMR data for the health system's affiliated physician group and the shared registration and billing system for other LifeBridge providers. Officials immediately investigated and found an unauthorized person had accessed LifeBridge's server in September 2016. The health system told Becker's it does not believe pa- tient information was misused, but it notified more than 500,000 patients of the incident in a May 18 letter as a precaution. "LifeBridge Health and LifeBridge Potomac Professionals [Potomac Phy- sicians] take the protection of health information very seriously. While we have no reason to believe patient in- formation has been misused in any way, out of an abundance of caution, we are notifying potentially affected patients as well as providing resourc- es for those who have questions or concerns. We sincerely regret any in- convenience or concern that this sit- uation may have caused," the health system said in a prepared statement to Becker's. LifeBridge opened a call center to assist patients seeking additional in- formation, officials said. For patients whose Social Security numbers may have been compromised, officials are offering one-year of complimentary credit card monitoring and identity protection services. n

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