Merit Health Northwest Mississippi Data Breach (2013)

Merit Health notifies patients of security breach Merit Health system based in Jackson, Miss., only learned of the breach after local law enforcement notified them that one of their employees at Merit Health Northwest Mississippi was under investigation for identity theft, according to an online statement. The employee was allegedly swiping patient files for more than a year undetected, from February 2013 through June 2015. Law enforcement notified the hospital July 1, 2015. The employee, who was eventually suspended and barred access to the building and IT systems, swiped records containing patient names, Social Security numbers, medical diagnoses data, health plan data and also payment information.