Northern Montana Health Care reports third party data breach affecting patient data
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Northern Montana Health Care (NMHC) in Havre, Montana, reports a data security incident at a third party provider Wakefield & Associates, LLC.
Wakefield & Associates is a debt collection agency based in Aurora, Colorado that specializes in medical debt collection and billing services for healthcare providers. The breach compromised files within Wakefield's systems, affecting patient information associated with the healthcare provider's account services.
Wakefield & Associates was listed as a victim of the Akira ransomware group.
The timeline of the attack on Wakefield & Associates have not been disclosed. No details are provided about the types of exposed data or number of affected individuals. The breach is not currently listed on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights breach portal, which has not been updated since September 24, 2025, due to a government shutdown.
Northern Montana Health Care has emphasized that it will not send individual notification letters to patients about this inident. All communication about the breach is coming directly from Wakefield & Associates.
Wakefield & Associates is offering complimentary credit monitoring services to affected individuals.
