PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State University reports that those who have used the Cougar Health Services (CHS) Pharmacy on the Pullman campus may have had their personal health information exposed in a recent cyberattack.
Change Healthcare, the company that processes insurance claims for CHS, informed Washington State University (WSU) on June 20 that identifiable health information from CHS Pharmacy users may have been exposed in a data breach.
WSU has established a website with information and resources for those potentially affected.
On February 21, 2024 Change Healthcare became aware of ransomware in its computer system and quickly took steps to stop the attack by disconnecting systems, beginning an investigation and contacting law enforcement.
On March 7, 2024, Change Healthcare reported that a substantial amount of information had been extracted from their servers between February 17 and February 20.
Change Healthcare is unable to confirm exactly what patient data was exposed. However, the data may include a range of information including:
Contact information, such as first and last names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers and email addresses
Health insurance information, such as health plans/policies, insurance companies, member/group ID numbers and Medicaid-Medicare-government payor ID numbers
Health information, such as medical record numbers, providers, diagnoses, medicines, test results, images, care and treatment records
Billing, claims and payment information, such as claim numbers, account numbers, billing codes, payment cards, financial and banking information, payments made and balances due
Other personal information such as Social Security numbers, driver’s licenses or state ID numbers, or passport numbers
WSU students from the Pullman campus and other users of CHS Pharmacy who are concerned that they may have been impacted can enroll in two years of complimentary credit monitoring and identity protection services by visiting the Change Healthcare data breach website.
WSU urges CHS Pharmacy users to regularly monitor their explanation of benefits statements for any unusual activity and contact their health plan or health care provider if they notice discrepancies.
If CHS Pharmacy users notice any suspicious activity on tax returns or bank statements, they should contact their financial institution.
Questions about the incident can be directed to Joseph Santos, the Cougar Health Services quality assurance and compliance coordinator, at incident.notification@wsu.edu.
Affected CHS Pharmacy users may also obtain a free copy of their credit report by visiting Annual Credit Report or by contacting one of the three national credit reporting agencies:
Equifax P.O. Box 105788 Atlanta, GA 30348 1-888-378-4329 www.equifax.com
Experian P.O. Box 9532 Allen, TX 75013 1-800-831-5614 www.experian.com
TransUnion P.O. Box 1000 Chester, PA 19016 1-800-916-8800 www.transunion.com
