State gets $82,000 and safeguards in settlement for 2014 data breach at hospitals in Paintsville, Louisa, Jackson and Fulton

The Commonwealth of Kentucky will get $82,345 as part of a nearly $5 million multi-state settlement with Tennessee-based Community Health Systems for a 2014 data-security breach that affected the personal information of approximately 6.1 million patients nationwide, including 93,395 Kentuckians, says a news release from Attorney General Daniel Cameron.

The company’s breach compromised the names, birthdates, Social Security numbers, phone numbers, and addresses of patients at four Kentucky hospitals: Paul B. Hall Regional Medical Center in Paintsville, Kentucky River Medical Center in Jackson, Three Rivers Medical Center in Louisa and the now-closed Parkway Regional Hospital in Fulton.

Cameron's Office of Consumer Protection, with 27 other attorneys general, negotiated the settlement, which also requires CHS to implement and maintain a comprehensive information security program designed to safeguard personal information and protected health information.