Database breach may impact Northwestern Medicine cancer patients

Northwestern Memorial HealthCare is notifying patients about a data breach that may have exposed some information about cancer patients in the hospital’s system, including Social Security numbers and medical records.

Affected hospitals within the Northwestern Medicine system include locations in McHenry and Huntley, according to the release.

Elekta, which “provides a cloud-based platform to facilitate legally-required cancer reporting to the State of Illinois,” was accessed by an unauthorized person in April, according to a news release. Elekta notified Northwestern Medicine of the breach on May 17.

The hospital system said it isn’t certain patient information was accessed and will be used, however the breach could have exposed information about patients, including Social Security numbers, health insurance information and medical records for cancer patients at Northwestern Medicine hospitals. Financial information was not accessed.

“This incident did not involve access to NMHC’s systems, network, or electronic health records. It occurred on Elekta’s systems, which held a database for oncology patients,” the hospital system said in a release. “This incident was not targeted at NMHC or its hospitals.”

According to Northwestern Medicine, Elekta told the hospital system it doesn’t have any reason to think patient information will be used or published. However, Northwestern Medicine said it is notifying patients affected by the breach via mail. It will also be providing credit monitoring and identity theft protection for those who had their Social Security numbers accessed.

“We regret that this incident occurred and are committed to protecting the security and privacy of patient information. To help prevent something like this from happening again, we are re-evaluating our relationship with Elekta,” Northwestern Medicine said in the release.

Northwestern Medicine is encouraging patients to closely monitor health insurance statements for any irregularities.