Iowa firm alerts former patients about ID problem
DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) – A Davenport-based company is alerting nearly 1,200 former hospital patients about a security lapse that exposed their names and birthdates to identity theft.
Genesis Health System has issued the warning. Genesis says a medical transcription firm didn’t establish a firewall to protect online information from May 5 to June 24. The firm is contracted by Cogent Healthcare, which provides physicians to two Genesis Medical Center hospitals in Davenport and the Genesis Medical Center-Illini Campus in Silvis, Ill.
Genesis spokesman Ken Croken says no Social Security numbers or financial information was involved. The unprotected data included follow-up care information about patient cases.
Cogent Healthcare says the health information of 32,000 patients nationwide was exposed. Cogent is based in Brentwood, Tenn.
