Medical Breach Exposes Thousands of New Mexico’s Patients
On August 2, 2019, Presbyterian Healthcare Services confirmed they had become the victim of a data breach. The medical breach was a result of an employee clicking on a malicious email. Upon doing so, the employee inadvertently launched malware which was used to gather personal information on approximately 183,000 New Mexico patients and health plan members.
The information exposed included the names, birth dates, and Social Security numbers. It is not believed any of this information has been used maliciously. However, Presbyterian Healthcare Services is notifying those whose information was leaked via U.S. mail.
The facility’s President and CEO, Dale Maxwell, shared the following statement,
“At Presbyterian, we take the responsibility of protecting the privacy of our patients and members very seriously. We deeply regret that this event occurred and are committed to taking steps to help prevent this type of incident from happening again.”
It is recommended all Presbyterian Healthcare Service members keep an eye on their medical statements for accuracy. It is also recommended for each person impacted by the leak, to monitor their credit due to their personally identifiable information being exposed.
