Fla. FD’s ambulance billing hit by data breach

By C.T. Bowen
Tampa Bay Times

TEMPLE TERRACE, Fla. — The Temple Terrace Fire Department has been hit by the global data breach that also affected Hillsborough County.

EMS Management and Consultants Inc., which handles billing for the department, uses the MOVEit transfer tool that Progress Software Corp. said had been compromised in May and June.

An investigation by the billing company determined hackers accessed its MOVEit Transfer server on May 30 and took the personal information of approximately 700 people who were treated or transported by the fire department’s ambulance service.

The company recently mailed letters to those individuals informing them of the breach and offering steps to take to protect their information.

The compromised information includes name, date of service, hospital to which they were transported and medical record number. An earlier letter from the billing company erroneously stated that dates of birth and Social Security numbers also were affected, according to a news release from the city of Temple Terrace. A revised letter will be sent to the affected patients.

For more information, people can go to the emsbilling.com/notice website. They also can call a toll-free number at 833-318-2801, reference code B100189.

In July, Hillsborough County announced the global data breach may have put at risk the personal information belonging to more than 70,000 people. It involved the same MOVEit transfer tool, a third-party service that complies with federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act regulations.

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