South Country Health Alliance mnscha.org

South Country Health Alliance data breach: what happened and what to do

An unauthorized person accessed a South Country Health Alliance employee's email account starting June 25, 2020. HHS lists 66,874 people affected. The data included names, Social Security numbers, health insurance details and treatment information. Members were notified from December 30, 2020.

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Breach date: 25 Jun 2020
Made public: 31 Dec 2020
Affected: 66,874
Data exposed: Names, Social security numbers, Health insurance information, Treatment information
Last updated: 27 Oct 2026

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

South Country Health Alliance (SCHA) is a Minnesota county-based health plan. It found that an unauthorized person had accessed an employee's email account. The account was first accessed on June 25, 2020 and the problem was detected on September 14, 2020. HHS's description says the employee was the subject of an email phishing scheme.

SCHA finished reviewing the account on November 5, 2020 and began notifying members on December 30, 2020. The delay came from finding current mailing addresses. The HHS breach portal lists 66,874 people.

Sources checked: ocrportal.hhs.gov, hipaajournal.com, maine.gov

Last verified against the official page: 27 Oct 2026

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What was exposed

Per HIPAA Journal, the account held names, Social Security numbers, Medicare and Medicaid numbers, health insurance details, diagnosis and treatment information and treatment costs. HHS adds addresses, dates of birth, claims information and medications.

A Social Security number and a Medicaid or Medicare number together are enough for medical identity theft, where someone uses your coverage to get care or file claims.

The plan's response

SCHA said its investigation found no evidence the information was viewed, obtained or misused. It offered 12 months of credit monitoring and identity remediation through IDX, set up a call center, added safeguards and retrained staff.

What to do if you were in it

1

Freeze your credit at all three bureaus

A credit freeze is free and stops lenders from seeing your credit report, which blocks most new accounts in your name. Place it separately at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, as the FTC explains. Your Social Security number was in the data, so this is the key step.
2

Read your insurance statements

Check explanation of benefits statements from your insurer and question any treatment or bill you don't recognize. The FTC lists medical identity theft warning signs.
3

Use the free monitoring if you were offered it

SCHA offered 12 months of monitoring through IDX; the enrollment steps are in your letter. The FTC recommends taking free credit monitoring when a company offers it. Monitoring alerts you to new activity but doesn't block it, so pair it with a freeze.
4

Treat insurance calls and texts as suspect

Expect messages that mention your plan, Medicare or Medicaid. Don't give numbers to anyone who contacts you first; call the number on your member card.
5

Check your credit reports and statements

Review your reports for free at annualcreditreport.com and read bank statements for charges you don't recognize. If someone uses your details, report it at IdentityTheft.gov to get a recovery plan.
6

Check whether your email or phone is in this and other breaches

Run a free Serus scan. It checks breach databases for your email, phone and other details, and Serus keeps watching and alerts you if they turn up in a new leak.