Baptist Medical Center baptisthealthsystem.com Baptist Medical Center data breach: what happened and what to do
Baptist Medical Center in Texas reported a 2022 cyberattack that affected 1,608,549 people. Data was accessed between March 31 and April 24, 2022. Exposed information included names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, claims information and diagnoses.
View all 13,177 breaches- Breach date
- 31 Mar 2022
- Made public
- 15 Jun 2022
- Affected
- 1,608,549
- Data exposed
- Names, Physical addresses, Dates of birth, Social security numbers, Claims information, Diagnoses
- Last updated
Reviewed by Anthon Wansland
Head of Product & Co-Founder
Serus is a privacy company with paid tools to find and remove your personal data. This page is free and based on official sources.
What happened
Baptist Medical Center, part of the Baptist Health System in San Antonio, Texas, reported a cyberattack on its network. Per coverage of its notice, an unauthorized party accessed and removed data from the network between March 31 and April 24, 2022, and the incident was discovered on April 20, 2022.
The center reported the breach to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in June 2022 as affecting 1,608,549 people. Its filing with Texas counted 1,201,647 Texas residents, which is a subset of that total, not a separate breach. HHS lists it as a ransomware attack; the notice coverage describes malicious code without confirming a ransom demand.
Sources checked: ocrportal.hhs.gov, databreaches.net, identitytheft.gov
Last verified against the official page:
What was exposed
HHS says the protected health information involved included names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, claims information, diagnoses and other treatment information. Notice coverage also mentions insurance and billing details. Not every person had every item exposed.
A Social Security number plus a date of birth and a home address is enough for someone to try to open credit in your name or file a false tax return. Treatment and billing details give scammers material for calls and texts that sound like they come from your provider or insurer.
What the center did
Baptist Medical Center notified HHS, affected individuals and the media. It said it added administrative and technical safeguards to better protect sensitive data. If you were a patient and got a letter, it explains what applies to you and any services offered.
What to do if you were in it
- 1
Freeze your credit at all three bureaus
A freeze is free and blocks new accounts from being opened with your Social Security number. Contact Equifax, Experian and TransUnion; the FTC has the steps at consumer.ftc.gov.
- 2
Read your insurance statements
Look for treatments, providers or claims you don't recognize, and report them to your insurer.
- 3
Take any monitoring your letter offers
If the notice letter includes credit monitoring or identity protection, activate it. The FTC recommends this after a breach.
- 4
Expect scam calls and texts about your care or bills
Don't act on a message about a medical bill or the breach itself. Call the provider on a number from its official website.
- 5
Check whether your email or phone is in this and other breaches
Run a free scan with Serus to see where your email or phone number has appeared in known breaches.
Official filings
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services , filed 15 Jun 2022 : 1,608,549 people
Timeline
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The breach happened
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The company made it public
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Reported to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Frequently asked
Was I affected by the Baptist Medical Center breach?
If you received a notice letter, yes. If you were a patient and got none, contact Baptist Health System through the contact details on its official website.
What was exposed?
Names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, claims information, diagnoses and other treatment information, per the federal filing. It varied by person.
How many people were affected?
1,608,549 people according to the filing with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Should I freeze my credit?
Social Security numbers were involved, so a free credit freeze is a sensible step, and the FTC recommends one when your number is exposed.
Sources
Something wrong or out of date? Tell us and we'll re-check it.
