New York attorney general says data breach at Nevada firm impacts patients of Crouse Health

Patients of Northwell Health and Crouse Health are among nearly 9 million affected by a data breach at Perry Johnson & Associates, a medical-transcription company.

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday warned affected New Yorkers “to take action to prevent potential identity theft.”

The company had a data breach affecting nearly 9 million patients, including about 4 million New Yorkers in Syracuse and New York City. Northwell Health and Crouse Health have been affected by this data breach, and most people whose data was impacted have been notified, James’ office noted.

James is advising affected New Yorkers to protect themselves and their information from theft and impersonation, per her office.

Perry Johnson & Associates is a Nevada–based company that provides transcription services to health-care organizations and physicians for dictating and transcribing patient notes. The firm back in May became aware of a breach affecting their systems. The medical-transcription company said the data impacted includes some Social Security numbers and insurance and clinical information from medical-transcription files, James’ office said.

“I urge all New Yorkers affected by this data breach to stay alert and take these important steps to protect themselves,” the attorney general said. “Bad actors can use the stolen information to impersonate individuals or cause financial harm. Identity theft is a serious issue, and my office will continue to take action to keep New Yorkers safe.”

Attorney general’s advice

James urges anyone who believes they were impacted by this to take the following steps to protect themselves.

They include monitoring your credit, consider placing a free credit freeze on your credit report, placing a fraud alert on your credit report, obtaining copies of your medical records, contesting unrecognized medical billing, and informing your insurance company.

If you fall victim to medical identity theft, the attorney general’s office says you should consider filing a report with the Federal Trade Commission either online or at (877) 438-4338.