Long Island Radiology Practice Says 97,000 Patients May Be At Risk After Data Breach

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Nearly 100,000 customers of a Long Island-based radiology practice are being warned about a data breach which may have exposed their personal information.

NRAD Medical Associates of Garden City has sent out letters to patients saying a now-former employee had unauthorized access to their personal information, CBS 2's Weijia Jiang reported.

In the letter, the company says "a radiologist who was employed by NRAD at the time of the breach bypassed security systems within the company's billing and data systems to improperly access record and patient health information."

The company says the apparent breach happened around April 24 and said as many as 97,000 files of current and former patients may have been accessed.

NRAD warns patients personal data "such as date of birth, address, social security number, and health insurance information was accessed."

NRAD says it is not aware of any external misuse of the patient information, writing, "We believe there is very low risk from this event and the data breach has been contained. We have no evidence that any customer financial or credit card information was involved."

But the company is advising patients to review and guard their credit. It has also established a hotline number for patients to call with questions or concerns: 800-926-8180.

The accused employee, who so far has not been identified, has been fired and reported to authorities, Jiang reported. NRAD said it has also implemented extra security measures for its billing and patient databases.

The company has 18 locations, mostly in Nassau County and Queens.

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