News Release
Rock Valley Physical Therapy takes the safety and security of our patient’s personal information seriously and we value the trust our patients put in us. On September 22, 2023, a breach of personal information occurred and was discovered.
In connection with an email sent to contacts of Rock Valley regarding Rock Valley’s participation in a health insurance network, an employee of Rock Valley inadvertently included the email addresses for recipients in the “cc” line of the email as opposed to the “bcc” line of the email. As a result, e-mail addresses were visible to all the recipients of the email. No other personal information was included in the email. At this time, we have no reason to believe that any of this information has been used improperly by any recipient.
Upon discovering the specifics of this situation, we promptly engaged our outside IT consultants to implement security measures to decrease the likelihood of similar circumstances occurring in the future. Additionally, we provided staff training regarding the use of email for communication and updated our policy to ensure patient privacy in future marketing campaigns. Letters were mailed to each contact that received the original email with instructions to take the following steps should they feel necessary.
· The toll-free numbers of any one of the three major credit bureaus (below) can be called to place a fraud alert on the individual’s credit report. As soon as the credit bureau confirms your fraud alert, the other two credit bureaus will automatically be notified to place alerts on your credit report. These steps could help to prevent future identity theft.
· Equifax: 1-800-525-6285; www.equifax.com; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241.
· Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742); www.experian.com; P.O. Box 9532, Allen, TX 75013.
· TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289; www.transunion.com; Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790.
· Order your credit reports. By establishing a fraud alert, you will receive a follow-up letter that will explain how you can receive a free copy of your credit report. When you receive your report, examine it closely and look for signs of fraud, such as credit accounts that are not yours.
· Even though a fraud alert has been placed on your account, you should continue to monitor your credit reports to ensure an imposter has not opened an account with your personal information.
Our compliance officer can be reached at 309-743-2070 during normal business hours with any questions or concerns.
We take very seriously our role of safeguarding patients’ personal information and using it in an appropriate manner, and Rock Valley apologizes for any inconvenience and concern this may create for those who we have cared for. We remain committed to privacy and quality patient care options for our communities.