August 10, 2022
MultiCare Health System addresses third-party data breach incident
TACOMA, WA – MultiCare announced today that it is part of a security event that originated with Avamere Health Services LLC, a third-party entity. Avamere provides contracted services to Physicians of Southwest Washington (PSW), a joint venture and business associate of MultiCare.
In early 2022, Avamere discovered unauthorized access to its network’s systems. Upon discovery, Avamere stopped this access, contacted law enforcement, and began an investigation. They discovered that files containing identifiable protected health information were potentially removed from their systems.
Potentially 18,615 beneficiaries of MultiCare’s Bundled Payment for Care Improvement Advanced program may have been involved. The information that may have been compromised included data such as: full name, diagnosis or conditions, dates of service and provider names.
On May 18, 2022, Avamere concluded their investigation and began determining the involved covered entities. Avamere notified PSW, which promptly notified MultiCare. Avamere is directly notifying impacted beneficiaries by mail.
Avamere has agreed to provide credit monitoring for one year for any affected MultiCare program beneficiaries who request this service. Individuals who have questions or need additional information regarding this incident may visit Avamere online or call the dedicated toll-free response line Avamere has established: 833-909-4422. The response line is available Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. PST.
MultiCare holds protecting the security and confidentiality of private information as a top priority and deeply regrets that this third-party platform breach has occurred.
About MultiCare
MultiCare is a not-for-profit health care organization with more than 20,000 team members, including employees, providers and volunteers. MultiCare has been caring for our community for well over a century, since the founding of Tacoma’s first hospital and today is the largest community-based, locally governed health system in the state of Washington.
MultiCare’s comprehensive system of health includes numerous primary care, urgent care and specialty services — including MultiCare Indigo Urgent Care, Pulse Heart Institute and MultiCare Rockwood Clinic, the largest multispecialty clinic in the Inland Northwest region.
MultiCare’s network of care includes 12 hospitals:
- MultiCare Allenmore Hospital, Tacoma
- MultiCare Auburn Medical Center, Auburn
- MultiCare Capital Medical Center, Olympia
- MultiCare Covington Medical Center, Covington
- MultiCare Deaconess Hospital, Spokane
- MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital, Puyallup
- Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, Tacoma
- MultiCare Tacoma General Hospital, Tacoma
- MultiCare Valley Hospital, Spokane Valley
- MultiCare Yakima Memorial Hospital, Yakima
- Navos Behavioral Health Hospital
- Wellfound Behavioral Health Hospital