South Australian My Home Hospital patients caught up in Medibank data breach

Thousands of patients who used a South Australian home hospital service have been caught up in the Medibank cyber attack.

The South Australian government agency Wellbeing SA said about 4,400 patients have had their personal and medical information accessed in the recent Medibank data breach.

They were part of the My Home Hospital program, which treats people with less-serious conditions in their homes.

It is jointly run by Medibank and the not-for-profit healthcare organisation Calvary on behalf of the state government.

Medibank has apologised and says it will contact patients directly.

At least 4 million Medibank customers across Australia have also had their data potentially accessed and stolen by the hackers.

My Home Hospital was launched in January last year, with the aim of reducing ambulance ramping and overcrowding at hospitals.

It initially serviced only the Adelaide metropolitan area but was expanded to include Gawler, Mallala, Two Wells and Freeling last July.

Wellbeing SA chief executive Lyn Dean said Medibank had previously said the My Home Hospital program was not caught up in the data breach.

“Up until yesterday, we were told that there was no identified impact to our patients. However, this information was revised late last night,” Ms Dean said.

“All of the patients impacted by the data breach are being contacted by Medibank to inform them of the situation and what actions they can take.

“My Home Hospital patients who accessed the service for the first time on or after October 13 are not impacted by the breach.

“My Home Hospital patients are the only SA Health patients aligned with Medibank and, therefore, the only ones who could have been affected.”

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