DCH Now Offering In-Home Sleep Studies

Davis County Hospital (DCH) is pleased to announce they’ve expanded their sleep study service line to include in-home sleep studies. In-home sleep testing is an effective, cost efficient means of diagnosing sleep-related illnesses in the comfort of your own home.

In order to diagnose Sleep Apnea or other sleep disorders, a patient must undergo a sleep study. This is typically done in a sleep lab, requiring the patient to spend the night in a lab, while equipment records his/her physiological data. This new home sleep technology, now offers patients a cost effective, easy to use, and reliable device for the home diagnosis of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). A patient is usually ordered a home sleep apnea test or “sleep study” by his or her doctor who suspects that the individual has OSA.

“Research shows that an estimated 22 million Americans suffer from sleep apnea, with 80 percent of the cases going undiagnosed,” stated Kirby Johnson, CEO at Davis County Hospital. “Many people are not being tested or treated because of various obstacles with overnight lab testing, and we are excited to be in a position where we can now reach out to these individuals to make testing easier. We know these services will go a long way in helping people improve their sleeping habits and enjoy a good night’s rest.”

The in-home sleep study that Davis County Hospital is now offering, has minimal equipment and measures the following biologic parameters:

  • Nasal and Oral Airflow – by a thin wire that is taped by the nose and mouth – some sensors look like an oxygen cannula.
  • Respiratory Effort – by elastic belt bands that are placed across the chest and abdomen.
  • Oximeter Finger Probe – a small clip-like device that attaches to the fingertip and emits a red light that assists in the evaluation of oxygen levels in the blood while sleeping.

“If left untreated, sleep apnea can lead to high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke,” said Tammy Smoot, Cardio-Pulmonary Manager at DCH. “This is an economical, convenient way for patients to complete their sleep study in the comfort of their own home. By increasing access for diagnosing sleep-related illnesses, conditions can be diagnosed sooner, allowing patients to receive treatment which could ultimately improve their quality of life.”

Ask your doctor today about having your in-home sleep study completed with Davis County Hospital.

Patient Notice – Potential Information Breach

PRESS RELEASE
December 22, 2017 

Potential Information Breach at Davis County Hospital

Davis County Hospital (DCH) learned on October 31st, 2017 that an unauthorized individual/hacker had forced their way into the DCH email system via two employee email accounts. The unauthorized individual/hacker then used the employee email accounts to further redistribute additional phishing emails. In addition to having access to email contacts within those email accounts, they would have had access to the emails contained within those accounts.

DCH initiated an investigation as soon as the breach was identified with the support of Mercy Health Network and Trinity Health on ensuring compliance with HIPAA regulatory items. Davis County Hospital, through a thorough investigation, cannot confirm that the intruder actually accessed, viewed, or further disclosed any protected health information contained within the email inboxes that the unauthorized individual/hacker had access to.

Through the investigation, a total of 383 patients were identified that could have had information potentially accessed, including information such as possible name, address, date of birth, and insurance billing information. Of the 383 identified patients, 25 were identified as higher risk, as information included social security numbers, diagnoses, and/or credit card numbers.

Davis County Hospital wants patients to know we have moved as swiftly as we possibly could to address the problem as soon as it was detected. To ensure any impact to the potentially affected patients is minimized, all 383 individuals were sent communication on the potential breach. Those 25 individuals identified as high risk, were also offered one year of support through Experian, a credit monitoring service to put their mind at ease. For those offered one year of support through Experian, please ensure you enroll by March 31, 2018 utilizing the information provided in your personalized letter; your activation code will expire after this date.

Phishing emails targeting individuals are increasingly the most common way criminals attempt to gain access to secured networks. Our organization continues to receive high ratings from independent security risk assessment firm FRSecure for risk analysis activities which are performed annually. Our organization employs numerous industry leading hardware and software security tools and processes to protect our patient’s health information along with ongoing security awareness training to all staff.

Davis County Hospital is actively taking steps to guard against something like this happening again, including adding additional layers of security to the email system along with continuing best practices of using industry leading information security resources, systems, and security awareness training for all staff.

Because we value each of our customers, and their trust is important to us, we want our customers to know we are doing our best to ensure security within our system. Our top priority will continue to be taking care of our patients and helping them feel confident in us to protect their health information while providing knowledge and trustworthy care for our community.

Potentially affected patients were mailed notices informing them of this incident. We are also providing this website notice because we anticipate that certain patients may have moved or may not be reachable by mail. Patients directly impacted by the potential breach, are encouraged to reach out to DCH with any questions they might have, by contacting our Privacy Officer at toll free number, 1-888-664-2145 between the hours of 8:00am and 5:00pm, Monday – Friday.

What You Should Do if You Think Your Identity Has Been Stolen

If you become a victim of identity theft, or even suspect that you might be a victim, take immediate action.

  1. Contact one of the credit reporting agencies’ fraud alert departmentsand place a fraud alert on your credit report.
  2. Contact your lenders, banks, and insurance companies and let them know the situation.
  3. File a police report—it is proof of the crime.
  4. Periodically check your credit reportsover the next year to make sure no new fraudulent activity has occurred.

Please understand that Davis County Hospital takes our responsibility to safeguard your personal information very seriously, and deeply regret that this incident has occurred. Although the risk is very low for the misuse of the data contained in these emails, please be assured we are taking every possible step to ensure your information remains private.  We regret any inconvenience or concern this situation may cause our patients.\

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