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Types of ResourcesErlanger is required to notify affected individuals of the improper access, use, or disclosure of their patient information, called Protected Health Information (PHI). On February 10, 2025, Nationwide Recovery Services, Inc. (“NRS”), notified Erlanger of a breach. NRS is a third-party vendor used by Murphy Medical Center, which is now Erlanger Western Carolina Hospital from 2009 to 2019.
Report of the incident as relayed by NRS: In July 2024, NRS discovered suspicious activity related to certain systems which resulted in a network outage. NRS promptly took steps to secure their environment and launched an investigation to determine the nature and scope of the activity. The investigation determined there was unauthorized access to NRS network between July 5, 2024, and July 11, 2024, and that certain files and folders were copied from NRS’ system. As a result, NRS began a review of these files and folders to determine what information they contain and to which NRS client’s data may have been involved. This review was completed on or about February 3, 2025.
NRS informed Erlanger that they implemented additional security measures and reviewed existing security policies to further protect against similar incidents moving forward. NRS confirmed that data belonging to Erlanger Western Carolina Hospital patients might have been included in the information compromised. Please note, only information of a few thousand individuals sent to NRS to pursue collection activities was involved. Information potentially compromised includes name, address, and date of service. The social security number for a smaller number of individuals might have been compromised. Importantly, not every affected individual had all these data elements impacted, or the same combination of data elements impacted. Erlanger has no evidence of identity theft or fraud as a result of this incident. This incident has been reported to law enforcement and regulators.
Notice of the incident is being provided to the potentially affected individuals. Unless you have been a patient at Erlanger Western Carolina and had collection action pursued against you, you are unlikely to be affected. A dedicated toll-free phone number 1-888-484-4962 has been established to address questions related to this incident.