On or about October 18, 2022, Prairie Lakes Healthcare System (“PLHS”) was notified that its business associate and collections vendor, AAA Collections, Inc. dba Advanced Asset Alliance (“AAA”), experienced a data incident which may have resulted in the inadvertent exposure of personal and medical information of current and former PLHS and former Glacial Lakes Orthopaedics patients. Although this incident did not occur within PLHS data systems, PLHS has worked diligently with AAA to determine exactly what happened and what information was involved as a result of this incident.
AAA commenced a third-party forensic investigation and determined the incident occurred between September 5, 2022 and September 7, 2022. The potentially compromised data of current and former PLHS and former Glacial Lakes Orthopaedics patients may have contained personal and medical information including, but potentially not limited to: names; addresses; dates of birth; medical record numbers; provider or facility name; conditions, diagnosis and/or treatment information; payment information; and date of service. As of this writing, there there have been no reports of related misuse, identity theft or fraud since the date of the incident.
AAA mailed notification letters to affected PLHS current and former patients along with Glacial Lakes Orthopaedics patients on December 15, 2022. The letters included additional information about what occurred, outlined the specific personal information that could have been exposed for that individual, and provided a toll-free number that individuals can call to learn more about the incident. The call center can be reached at 1-833-896-5845 and is available Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm Eastern time.
PLHS is committed to ensuring the security and protection of patient information within its control and is working with AAA to prevent a similar event from occurring in the future. PLHS understands the inconvenience or concern that this matter may cause and encourages affected individuals to remain vigilant, monitor accounts, and immediately report any suspicious activity or suspected misuse of personal information.