On November 29, 2023, Capital Health posted a website notice entitled “Information Technology Security Incident'' after experiencing large-scale outages across its IT network. Capital Health is still in the process of investigating the incident and hasn’t yet brought all servers back online. Once Capital Health recovers from the incident, it will likely investigate whether any patient data was leaked as a result. If so, Capital Health will be required to send out data breach notification letters to all individuals whose information was affected by the recent data security incident.

If you receive a data breach notification from Capital Health, it is essential you understand what is at risk and what you can do about it. A data breach lawyer can help you learn more about how to protect yourself from becoming a victim of fraud or identity theft, as well as discuss your legal options following any possible Capital Health data breach. For more information, please see our recent piece on the topic here.

Did Capital Health Experience a Data Breach?

It’s too early to tell if there was a Capital Health data breach. The Capital Health network outages were only recently announced, and more information is expected in the near future as the company continues its investigation. However, Capital Health’s recent website notice provides some important information on the current situation.

According to this source, Capital Health very recently experienced a network outage due to what the company “believe[s] to be a cybersecurity incident.” While Capital Health does not specifically state how it came to this conclusion, it is a reasonable one given the large number of healthcare data breaches in the past few months.

Upon learning of the incident, Capital Health informed law enforcement and began working with third-party experts to address the situation. At this point, Capital Health’s focus appears to be on preventing or eliminating unauthorized access while bringing its computer servers back online. Capital Health estimates that its systems may be down for several more days.

Once Capital Health resumes its operations, the company will need to determine if the incident resulted in any patient data being compromised. If Capital Health determines that an unauthorized actor had access to files containing confidential patient information, the company will be required to send out data breach letters to anyone who was affected by the recent data security incident. These letters should provide victims with a list of what information belonging to them was compromised.

More Information About Capital Health

Capital Health is a healthcare system headquartered in Trenton, New Jersey. Capital Health operates two hospitals, Regional Medical Center in Trenton and Capital Health Medical Center – Hopewell. In addition, Capital Health is an outpatient facility in Hamilton, NJ, and several primary and specialty care practices across New Jersey. Capital Health employs more than 3,854 people and generates approximately $591 million in annual revenue.