BAR HARBOR, July 6, 2023 - Mount Desert Island Hospital’s computer network was breached by unauthorized persons who may have compromised patient records, the hospital announced in a letter to patients last week.
When I received the letter announcing the MDI Hospital data Breech I turned to my wife and said, "Here we go, hours more of my time wasted!" Sure enough the registration process with IDX was almost unbelievable. The questions were so vague you had no idea precisely what they were asking for. For instance under bank account do they want the name of your bank? Do they want the route and transit number of your checking account or just your actual checking account number. I placed 2 phone calls to IDX tech support and the first one was a complete waste of time. The second tech directed me to a separate help page which he assured me would walk me through the process. It didn't offer anything even resembling a step by step set of directions and I was just as confused as before. Worse yet when I entered my checking account number the "Submit" button remained grayed out and would not respond to mouse clicks. So I placed a third call and the tech put me on hold. When he came back he said that my "problem" had been escalated to a higher tech and that I should hear back from them within the next 72 hours. It's bad enough that crucial data was lost by MDI Hospital but to then hire a company to monitor that data loss that itself seems totally incompetent adds insult to injury. Finally I tried calling the MDI Hospital patient advocate but she was busy and the message asked me to leave my phone number. Some years ago a client on my boat tour said, "The biggest problem today is almost a total lack of accountability." I find myself asking who will be held accountable for all this...
I've been a patient at this hospital in the past and did not receive any letter. Upon calling the number in the notice on the website, I needed to identify myself "for security purposes" and when I did so I was told my name wasn't found. I had (and still have) a simple question: How long does MDI hospital retain records? Without finding a record of me, the 3rd party company who answered the phone could not give me an answer. Unfortunate and frustrating.
I have Life Lock fraud protection. Thanks Rush.
When I received the letter announcing the MDI Hospital data Breech I turned to my wife and said, "Here we go, hours more of my time wasted!" Sure enough the registration process with IDX was almost unbelievable. The questions were so vague you had no idea precisely what they were asking for. For instance under bank account do they want the name of your bank? Do they want the route and transit number of your checking account or just your actual checking account number. I placed 2 phone calls to IDX tech support and the first one was a complete waste of time. The second tech directed me to a separate help page which he assured me would walk me through the process. It didn't offer anything even resembling a step by step set of directions and I was just as confused as before. Worse yet when I entered my checking account number the "Submit" button remained grayed out and would not respond to mouse clicks. So I placed a third call and the tech put me on hold. When he came back he said that my "problem" had been escalated to a higher tech and that I should hear back from them within the next 72 hours. It's bad enough that crucial data was lost by MDI Hospital but to then hire a company to monitor that data loss that itself seems totally incompetent adds insult to injury. Finally I tried calling the MDI Hospital patient advocate but she was busy and the message asked me to leave my phone number. Some years ago a client on my boat tour said, "The biggest problem today is almost a total lack of accountability." I find myself asking who will be held accountable for all this...
Thank you for this important information. I would not have picked this up without your alert. Called and now have credit protection.
I've been a patient at this hospital in the past and did not receive any letter. Upon calling the number in the notice on the website, I needed to identify myself "for security purposes" and when I did so I was told my name wasn't found. I had (and still have) a simple question: How long does MDI hospital retain records? Without finding a record of me, the 3rd party company who answered the phone could not give me an answer. Unfortunate and frustrating.