HackensackUMC was not directly involved in this incident, however the incident did affect some HackensackUMC patients. Cogent Healthcare provides physician services to patients while in the hospital. Cogent contracted with M2ComSys (M2), a medical transcription company, to transcribe notes regarding the patients under their care. A security lapse by M2, allowed some HackensackUMC patients’ health information to be accessed through its Internet site. The lapse affected discharge care notes, which were accessed through the M2 Internet site, beginning in May 2013 until its discovery in June 2013. The affected records contained varying combinations of information, including patient name, physician’s name, patient date of birth, diagnosis description, summary of treatment provided and medical history, medical record number and related information.
Copies of patient medical records and Social Security numbers were not included in the accessed records.
Cogent has sent notification letters to those affected. If you believe you are an affected patient, or have any questions, please call the toll-free call center between the hours of 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday: 877-218-0052. Patients may be asked to provide the following ten-digit reference code when calling: 4298080513. To help protect affected patients’ identities, they are offering a complimentary one-year membership of Experian’s ProtectMyIDTM Alert.
Cogent deeply regrets that this incident occurred, and has already taken steps to prevent a security lapse from occurring in the future.