Mercer County Community Hospital Data Breach Investigation

The data breach attorneys at The Lyon Firm in Cincinnati, Ohio, are reviewing new class action claims related to a recent data breach reported at Mercer County Joint Township Community Hospital. A “hacking/IT incident” reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (HHS) notes that over 88,000 individuals may be impacted.

The Lyon Firm has filed numerous class action data breach lawsuits on behalf of plaintiffs in Ohio and nationwide. We believe strongly that any healthcare entity that collects and stores your personal data has a duty to protect it from cybersecurity threats. Personal health information and other data has become quite valuable on the Dark Web. Call to learn how to protect yourself from medical identity theft and to consider taking legal action.

What happened at Mercer County Joint Township Community Hospital?

Mercer County Joint Township Community Hospital, operating in Coldwater, Ohio, has apparently been targeted in a cyberattack that resulted in a large-scale data breach involving the protected health information (PHI) of up to 88,541 individuals. According to a notice on the hospital website, the hospital says unauthorized activity was identified on a limited number of devices on its network in early April 2024.

After an investigation, a third-party cybersecurity forensics team confirmed that an unauthorized third party accessed certain hospital network devices between April 2, 2024, and April 3, 2024. Mercer County Hospital explains that without evidence of theft, they still decided to issue notification letters to all individuals whose protected health information was stored on the network at the time of the incident.

The types of information exposed in the incident will likely vary from individual to individual, but could include the following: physical address, email address, phone number, date of birth, Social Security Number, driver’s license/State ID number, medical information, health insurance information, and payment information, including payment card and/or financial account information.