11.9 Million Patients’ Personal, Medical Data May Have Been Exposed In Quest Breach
The breach came as a result of a cybersecurity incident at American Medical Collection Agency, a billing collections vendor. “Quest [Diagnostics] is taking this matter very seriously and is committed to the privacy and security of our patients’ personal information,” the medical testing company said. It indicated that plans are in the works to begin notifying individual patients but did not give a timeline.
The Washington Post:
Quest Diagnostics Discloses Breach Of 11.9 Million Patient Records
Quest Diagnostics, the medical testing company, said a data breach has affected about 11.9 million patients after an “unauthorized user’’ gained access to financial data, Social Security numbers and medical data but not laboratory test results. American Medical Collection Agency notified Quest about a potential intrusion on May 14 and then reported on the scope of the breach Friday. (Rowland, 6/3)
Bloomberg:
Quest Says Millions Of Patient Records Exposed In Data Hack
Quest said in a securities filing that it had been informed of the breach by American Medical Collection Agency, an Elmsford, New York-based collections firm. For eight months, an unauthorized user had access to personal information including credit card numbers and bank accounts, medical information, and personal information such as Social Security numbers. Quest, which operates medical testing centers around the U.S., said it has suspended sending collections requests to AMCA and is working with law enforcement and with UnitedHealth on the effects of the breach. Quest said it was informed of the incident on May 14. (Langreth, 6/3)
Modern Healthcare:
Quest Diagnostics: 12 Million Patients' Data Exposed In Breach
Quest has since suspended sending collection requests to AMCA. Quest said AMCA has provided neither Quest nor Optum360 with "detailed or complete information about the AMCA data security incident, including which information of which individuals may have been affected." Quest also said it has not been able to verify the accuracy of the information AMCA has sent about the incident to date. Quest and Optum360 are working with forensic experts to further investigate the incident. (Cohen, 6/3)
In other health technology news —
Stat:
Apple Watch Updates Will Track Menstrual Period, Protect Hearing
Apple CEO Tim Cook earlier this year vowed that the tech giant’s greatest contribution to humanity would ultimately be in the realm of health. You might not have guessed it from the company’s keynote presentation at its big annual developers conference on Monday, where new health and fitness tools took a bit of a backseat to Apple’s more traditional tech-focused product updates. (Robbins, 6/3)
Bloomberg:
Apple Unveils App Store For Its Watch; Adds Health Features
Apple Inc. showed off a big upgrade to the software that powers its Watch, adding an App Store, new health-tracking features, and a series of new watch faces. The company previewed the new operating system, watchOS 6, at its annual developer conference in San Jose, California, on Monday. For the first time, the App Store will be usable from the Watch itself, a change from needing to download apps to the device via a connected iPhone. It also added new Watch apps like a calculator, Apple Books for listening to audio books and a voice recorder. (Gurman, 6/3)