Delta Health Hospital and clinics recently announced a data breach that took place May of 2024. CEO Jonathan Cohee, he says the hospital reported the suspicious incident through the Office of Civil Rights and followed guidelines which included notifications to the Denver Post and the Delta County Independent.
Following notification, the hospital contracted with an independent team to comb through the hospital's computer network to see what information may have been breached. According to Cohee, the team was able to determine the exact information taken. He says that information did not contain sensitive patient information.
"But because they were in our network, we had to act as if they saw and were able to put their fingers on each and every piece of information that was in that network. Even though they didn't, we know what they had and it was pretty benign. There wasn't patient information in that.," said Cohee.
Even though patient information was not compromised, Cohee says the hospital was still required to notify its 140,000 plus patients that their information 'could have been compromised.' Notification letters were all sent out as of January 1st.
Cohee says when some patients received the letter, they were concerned that there was a new breach or that the letter was a hoax or a phishing scheme. The CEO says if patients still have concerns they can call 1-877-438-4338 or 1-833-215-2942.
"I've also had people come here to the hospital, meet with executive team members. I've met with people that were concerned about their letter just to kind of calm their fears a little bit. That its not a scam, your information is fine, you're okay not to do anything, or if you want to call the 1-800 number, you can get access to having some monitoring if you wanted some monitoring. It just really gives them those options.," said the CEO.
In recent weeks, there's been a plethora of Facebook ads from groups seeking to capitalize on the data breach. Cohee warns that such groups may be taking advantage of the situation and could be conducting their own phishing campaign looking for detailed information from patients including social security numbers.
"It's really is a phishing expedition," said Cohee. "They'll call people on the phone and say, 'Listen, we want you to join this class action lawsuit.' It actually isn't real and they're really just trying to get people's information. They want your name. They want your address, telephone number, and then they'll use that information against you. So it's unfortunate that it happens, but in situations like this, it brings out the worst of everybody. Everybody wants to capitalize on it and that's the thing probably that scares me the most is that they'll be phishing for people's information."
Delta Health patients who still have questions can reach out to the hospital.
"I would just encourage the listeners to please reach out. Call that 1-800 number if you're at all in doubt. Come to the hospital. Somebody here will be able to help you and speak to you. Don't reach out to anybody and give your information. If you just want to be put at ease in these words, don't do that. Happy to talk to you. Happy to talk to anybody," said Cohee.
