{"id":432140,"date":"2026-05-08T18:22:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T18:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/432140\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T18:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T18:22:12","slug":"atrium-notifies-charlotte-area-patients-of-a-data-breach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/432140\/","title":{"rendered":"Atrium notifies Charlotte area patients of a data breach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Atrium Health<\/a> has begun notifying patients in the Charlotte region about a data breach from last year that might affect them.<\/p>\n

Charlotte-based Atrium, North Carolina\u2019s largest health provider is notifying people affected by a \u201csecurity incident\u201d in February 2025, according to a letter dated April 30, 2026, and shared with The Charlotte Observer on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Cerner Health<\/a>, a third-party electronic medical record vendor, notified Atrium in December that patients\u2019 personal or health information may have been accessed by an unauthorized party, Atrium said. Cerner was acquired by Oracle Health in 2022 and now operates as a business unit within the company, headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri.<\/p>\n

Atrium said it no longer uses Cerner but was storing records and helping to move patient records. \u201cUnfortunately, Cerner informed us that the incident impacted certain information in the greater Charlotte area,\u201d the letter stated.<\/p>\n

\u201dThis situation did not involve access to, nor was it a failure of, our systems,\u201d Atrium said in a statement Friday to The Charlotte Observer. \u201cProtecting patient privacy remains a top priority, and we are notifying potentially impacted patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter did not indicate the total number of patients who might be impacted, and Atrium did not address the question in its response to the Observer.<\/p>\n

The notice to patients comes as Atrium plans to invest $2 billion in a proposed merger<\/a> with WakeMed in the Raleigh region. If approved, the deal would reshape North Carolina\u2019s healthcare landscape and create the state\u2019s largest nonprofit mental health network.<\/p>\n

But the deal quickly received pushback<\/a> from state and local officials after it was announced last Friday, May 1. Wake County commissioners postponed a vote that was scheduled just three days later on Monday, May 4.<\/p>\n

\"Atrium Atrium Health, North Carolina\u2019s largest hospital system, has begun notifying patients possibly affected by a data breach. Fred Clasen-Kelly Kaiser Health News Atrium Health\u2019s data breach findings<\/p>\n

Cerner discovered the incident in February 2025, and contacted Atrium at the end of last year.<\/p>\n

Following an investigation, Cerner determined an unauthorized actor gained access to some of its systems as early as Jan. 22, 2025, Atrium said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDue to the complexity of the investigation and the nature of the data involved, Cerner only recently notified us that some of our patients\u2019 information was likely impacted,\u201d Atrium said. The hospital system followed with its own investigation, which ended March 12.<\/p>\n

Information collected before Aug. 6, 2022, for Atrium Health patients in the greater Charlotte area or before July 3, 2021, may have been compromised. Information that may have been exposed includes patient name, address, date of birth, medical record number, providers, diagnoses, medications, test results, images and other medical record information.<\/p>\n

Cerner is not aware of identity theft or fraud related to Atrium Health patient data.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the best of Cerner\u2019s knowledge, this incident did not involve access to your Social Security number or access to credit card information or bank account information,\u201d Atrium stated in its letter.<\/p>\n

What Atrium Health patients can do<\/p>\n

Cerner, on Atrium\u2019s behalf, is offering two years of complimentary enrollment in credit monitoring and access to identity restoration through Experian Identity Works.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile our systems were not affected in this breach, we have taken steps to address the situation and prevent future occurrences,\u201d Atrium said. \u201cWe have and will continue to enhance our security and vendor controls to minimize the risk of similar situations in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Atrium Health has experienced data security incidents in the past, including over 585,000 patients affected by a breach involving third-party tracking tools<\/a> on their patient portal and a phishing attack<\/a> on employee emails, both in 2024. A vendor breach<\/a> with AccuDoc Solutions Inc. impacted 2.6 million patients in 2018.<\/p>\n

Atrium is part of Advocate Health, the third-largest nonprofit health system in the U.S.<\/p>\n

It serves 6 million patients across 69 hospitals and more than 1,000 care locations. The system recently partnered with Wake Forest University to launch the city\u2019s first four-year medical school<\/a>, a centerpiece of The Pearl district in Charlotte.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published May 8, 2026 at 5:03 AM.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Charlotte Observer<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Catherine Muccigrosso<\/a><\/p>\n

The Charlotte Observer<\/p>\n

Catherine Muccigrosso covers retail, banking and other business news for The Charlotte Observer. An award-winning journalist, she has worked for multiple newspapers in the Carolinas, Missouri and New York.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Atrium Health has begun notifying patients in the Charlotte region about a data breach from last year that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46],"class_list":["post-432140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}