IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – University of Iowa Health Care and University of Iowa Community Homecare have sent letters to roughly 211,000 people who are impacted by a data breach.
In a release, UIHC says someone accessed the computer system for UI Community HomeCare on July 3 without permission. Servers were quickly shut down and cybersecurity experts started to investigate, restoring systems within a business day.
But during a comprehensive investigation, they found a cybercriminal took copies of data files with patient information from UI Community HomeCare as well as a group of UI Health Care patients.
The two say no electronic health record systems were affected by the incident, but the two entities will share some patient, employee and data files.
Letters were sent out August 29. A sample of the letter is below.
UI Health Care reminds people can get one free credit report annually from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, or can request them by going to the Annual Credit Report website or by calling 1-877-322-8228. People can also place or extend a fraud alert on a credit file for free, or can place a credit freeze on a credit report.
Information for the credit companies is here:
Equifax
https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/ 1-888-298-0045
Equifax Fraud Alert
P.O. Box 105069
Atlanta, GA 30348-5069
Equifax Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 105788, Atlanta, GA 30348-5788
Experian https://www.experian.com/help/ 1-888-397-3742
Experian Fraud Alert
P.O. Box 9554
Allen, TX 75013
Experian Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 9554, Allen, TX 75013
TransUnion https://www.transunion.com/credit-help 1-800-916-8800
TransUnion Fraud Alert
P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19016
TransUnion Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 160, Woodlyn, PA 19094
Sample letter sent to impacted people:
Dear [Name],
At University of Iowa Health Care, we take patient trust and data protection very seriously. We deeply regret to inform you of an incident at University of Iowa Community HomeCare, an affiliate company that supports the mission of UI Health Care, involving the personal information of [Extra1]. Please be assured that we have taken every step necessary to address the incident.
UI Community HomeCare is a full-service home infusion and medical equipment services provider that serves individuals living in Iowa, western Illinois, and northern Missouri. While UI Community HomeCare and UI Health Care have separate operating systems, electronic health record systems, and information technology services, their relationship has historically involved sharing patients, employees, and data files.
On July 3, 2025, UI Community HomeCare had someone access its computer system without permission. UI Community HomeCare quickly took action to protect their patients and prevent further harm by shutting down their servers and bringing in cybersecurity experts to investigate. They were able to safely restore systems within one business day.
After further investigation, we learned that a cybercriminal was able to see and take copies of data in UI Community HomeCare’s computer system, which included some shared data files containing information from a group of UI Health Care patients.
We want to assure you that UI Health Care’s electronic health record system and its servers were not affected by the data incident at UI Community HomeCare. However, the files that were accessed include patient information such as name, date of birth, medical record number, provider, type of visit, insurance information, and date of service.
If you have questions about this incident, please call 833-745-0871, Monday through Friday from 8 am to 8 pm Central Time (excluding major U.S. holidays). Be prepared to provide your engagement number. You may also visit uihc.org for additional information.
Although there is no indication at this time that your information has been misused, we encourage you to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft and fraud by reviewing your personal account statements and monitoring free credit reports for suspicious activity and to detect errors. Please review the information in the Steps You Can Take to Protect Personal Information found below if you feel it is necessary to do so.
UI Health Care sincerely apologizes for any inconvenience or concern caused by this incident. We are committed to working with UI Community HomeCare to strengthen its systems and business processes so we can prevent events like this from happening in the future.
Sincerely,
Joint Office for Compliance
University of Iowa Health Care
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