Medical Imaging Center Notifies Patients of Health Data Breach

Express MRI is notifying patients of a health data breach that involved patients’ personal information. 

In a press release published on July 26, Express MRI, which has locations in Georgia and Alabama, said affected patients will be receiving letters in the mail about the incident.  

The email data breach occurred in July of 2020 and impacted 1,707 patients of the Peachtree Corners, Georgia location, according to the Express MRI media representative. 

“Express MRI became aware of a potential data breach on July 10, 2020,” the statement reads. “With patient privacy and security as its number one concern, the company, which offers affordable, high-quality MRI scans, took immediate action to investigate and address the incident.” 

“The investigation identified that unauthorized emails were sent from an Express MRI email account,” the press release notes. “It was believed that no patient information was accessed due to this intrusion.” 

A secondary review was completed on June 10, 2021, according to the release.  

“This review concluded that, despite having no conclusive evidence any particular patient information was actually accessed, read, or exported, it was possible emails containing patient information could have been accessed, read, or exported,” the statement notes. “Certain emails contain the name, address, email address, date of birth, age, referring physician, body part scanned, and whether the scan was related to a workers' compensation claim or motor vehicle accident investigation. No Social Security numbers, financial or insurance information or patient images were accessed, lost, compromised, or otherwise affected as a result of this data breach.” 

"Protecting our patients' personal information is one of our top priorities in our commitment to providing you with safe, high-quality care," Express MRI CEO Alex Halpern said in the statement. "We sincerely apologize to our patients for this inconvenience." 

The company is taking steps to respond to the cyberbreach, “including assembling a team of highly qualified experts to reinforce the security of its information technology systems. These efforts also include the implementation of increased security safeguards to further enhance the security of its network.” 

Any patients with questions or concerns about the data breach can call Express MRI at 833- 915-0885, Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm EST.   

“Express MRI understands the importance of protecting your personal information and we sincerely apologize for this inconvenience,” it stated in a notice to patients on its website.  

“Your Social Security number, financial or insurance information, and/or medial images were not affected, lost or exposed in this data breach,” the notice states.  

“However, we remind you it is always advisable to be vigilant for incidents of fraud or identity theft by reviewing your account statements and free credit reports for any unauthorized activity over the next 12 to 24 months,” the patient notice states.