Former skilled nursing and senior care operator Elmcroft Senior Living late last week revealed a data breach that may have exposed the personal information of former patients, residents, clients, and employees.
The Louisville, Ky.-based company became aware on May 12 of an unauthorized third-party that had accessed its services in Louisville two days before, according to a press release from Elmcroft Senior Living. Elmcroft terminated the access and is now working with local and federal law enforcement as they investigate the hack.
The potentially compromised information includes names, birth dates, and in some cases, personal health information and Social Security numbers.
Elmcroft no longer manages the Elmcroft community portfolio; the Portland, Ore.-based Elmcroft by Eclipse Senior Living — led by former Holiday Retirement CEO Kai Hsiao — began managing those facilities back in January.
A spokesperson for Eclipse sought to emphasize that the data breach occurred under the previous regime.
“While Eclipse Senior Living has continued to use the ‘Elmcroft’ brand name, it is completely separate from and not related to Elmcroft Senior Living, Inc., the company that experienced the breach,” Eclipse said in a statement to Skilled Nursing News. “Furthermore, Elmcroft by Eclipse Senior Living has no involvement with the storage or management of the data systems impacted. Elmcroft by Eclipse Senior Living stores all data separately in a secure environment.”
Eclipse stressed that its new technology systems and data were not affected, though some current associates and residents were affected by Elmcroft’s data breach.
The former Elmcroft will offer a free year of credit monitoring to the affected parties.
The incident comes as data becomes increasingly important to SNFs. Collecting and using information is essential to thriving in a value-based world, experts say, and hospitals increasingly want data — including information regarding patient readmissions and outcomes — from skilled nursing providers before choosing them as preferred partners.
Written by Maggie Flynn
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