By HFT Staff

The Dallam Hartley Counties Hospital District (DHCHD) in September mailed letters informing patients of a cybersecurity attack. 

The DHCHD in Dalhart, Texas, identified a cybersecurity incident affecting some of its computer systems. The facility immediately began an investigation with a third-party forensic firm, took measures to contain the incident and reported the incident to law enforcement. 

DHCHD’s investigation determined that an unauthorized actor gained access to its network on Sept. 27, 2022, and acquired a subset of files between Sept. 27, 2022 and Sept. 28, 2022. These files contained patient names, Social Security numbers, health insurance information, demographic information and limited medical information. DHCHD’s electronic medical record application was not accessed during this incident. 

DHCHD has opened a dedicated, toll-free call center to answer questions about this incident and is offering complimentary credit monitoring and identity theft protection services to affected patients. To help prevent something like this from happening again, DHCHD is enhancing the security of its systems.