Open letter to Nash Health Care patients

Many of you have made recent inquiries concerning the Carolina Mammography Registry security breach and the potential exposure of your health and personal information. We trust that this letter will help answer your concerns by providing you with the most recent and accurate information we have available.

As many as 160,000 women across the state recently received a letter from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine advising them that their personal data may have been vulnerable during a security breach involving the UNC-Medical School computer server. The information was a part of the Carolina Mammography Registry, a 14-year-old registry that collects and analyzes mammograms submitted by radiology offices across the state.

Many area women who received the letter were puzzled by the fact that they had never received a mammogram at UNC Hospitals, nor given permission for their information to be shared with anyone. The patient information from mammograms performed at Nash Day Hospital was shared with Carolina Mammography Registry under provisions of the Mammography Quality Standards Act.

The Mammography Quality Standards Act is a federal law that requires all accredited facilities (Nash Day Hospital is an accredited facility) that provide mammograms to participate in a mammography registry. Federal government regulators waived the requirement that facilities acquire patient consent for sharing the information.

The registry is part of a research project funded by the National Institute of Health’s National Cancer Institute. The information provided enables researchers to track certain indicators to see if the patient develops cancer, which is why the Carolina Mammography Registry was created, according to information from UNC-Chapel Hill.

We view this security breach as very alarming — patient privacy is one of the most sacred foundations of quality health care. Even though Nash Health Care Systems is not responsible for this security breach, it concerns us because it affects our patients and members of our community. I should also note that our own employees and their loved ones were affected by this breach as well.

In response to the breach, the following security measures have been implemented to prevent the potential for putting patient information at risk:

The Carolina Mammography Registry has given notice that it has shut down the breached server and suspended its system until the privacy issue can be corrected.

The Registry has removed all but the last four digits of the Social Security numbers it currently has on file.

The Carolina Mammography Registry is revising the information it requests on the mammography history forms.

Nash Health Care will no longer use SSNs as identifiers on mammography patients’ information. Only the last four digits will be used.

Nash Health Care will distribute brochures to each mammography patient providing information on research, patient rights and frequently asked questions.

Representatives from Nash Health Care will be attending a meeting with the Registry in November to discuss guidelines to be established for the safety and security of patient data.

As an accredited mammogram facility, and the preferred health care provider for this region, we are committed to giving primary attention to those issues affecting our patients and implementing procedures to keep the care and safety of our patients our number one priority.

It is most interesting that this issue arises as our nation debates the merits of more, or less, federal government control of our health care system. Thank you for choosing Nash Health Care as your provider.

You should expect superior quality care, and it is our mission to provide it. If you have additional questions or concerns, do not hesitate to call us at 962-8767. I would also refer you to more information about this incident on the Internet at www.unc.edu/cmr/.

Larry Chewning

President and Chief

Executive Officer

Nash Health

Care Systems

On Oct. 15, we sponsored our fourth annual Duke Children’s Hospital Fundraiser.

While we are all facing economic challenges, I am proud to inform the residents of the Rocky Mount area, we raised more than $40,000 for the kids at Duke Children’s Hospital. That is an increase of 33 percent over last year’s event.

It really warms my heart when I can say when Rocky Mount gets ready to support a cause, they step up and do it.

Thank you to each person, business and family who had a part in this year’s event.

Steven D. Felton

Rocky Mount

Duke Children’s

Hospital

Fundraiser Event