Medical Equipment Company Breach: What Patients Should Do About Stolen Health Data

AdaptHealth, a company that provides medical equipment to patients, recently announced that scammers talked their way into the company's computer systems and stole patient information. The attackers used a technique called social engineering, which means they pretended to be trusted people to trick AdaptHealth employees into giving them access. Once inside, they accessed patient management systems and document storage. If you or a family member receives medical equipment from AdaptHealth, your personal health information may have been stolen. This includes passwords used for insurance billing, along with other sensitive patient data stored in their systems. The company disclosed this attack to federal regulators, which means it was serious enough to require official notification.

If you are an AdaptHealth patient, take these steps right away. First, watch your insurance statements carefully for any charges you don't recognize. Second, if you created any passwords on AdaptHealth's systems or portals, change those passwords immediately. Third, be extra alert for phone calls or emails from people claiming to be from AdaptHealth or your insurance company. Scammers may use the stolen information to contact you and try to get even more data. Do not give out personal information over the phone unless you initiated the call.

To protect yourself long term, consider placing a fraud alert on your credit reports by contacting one of the three major credit bureaus. Monitor your medical records and insurance explanations of benefits for services you did not receive. Sign up for any free credit monitoring that AdaptHealth may offer to affected patients. Going forward, never share passwords between different accounts, and use two factor authentication whenever it is available on medical or insurance websites.