Hospital operator Community Health Systems said a cyber-attack took information on more than 4 million patients from its computer network earlier this year.
The Franklin, TN company — owner of Heritage Medical Center in Shelbyville and Harton Regional Medical Center in Tullahoma — said Monday that no medical or credit card records were taken in the attack, which may have happened in April and June. Russ Spray Administrator of Harton stated that the attack did bypass its security systems to take patient names, addresses, birthdates, and phone and Social Security numbers.
The hospital operator said it believes the attack came from a group in China that used sophisticated malware and technology to get the information. Community Health has since removed the malware from its system and finalized “other remediation efforts” to prevent future attacks.
The information that was taken came from patients who were referred to or received care from doctors tied to the company over the past five years.
Community Health Systems operate a total of 19 hospitals in Tennessee.

Gas prices continued to slide last week. Motorists are finding gasoline at or below $3.20 in metro markets like Columbus, Chattanooga, Memphis, Orlando and Tampa.
“Motorists are reaping the benefits of booming domestic oil production which has provided the cheapest gas prices for August in years,” said Mark Jenkins, spokesman, AAA – The Auto Club Group. “The price of oil declined slightly last week, so gas prices could slip even more this week.”
Tensions between Russia and Ukraine, and the situation in Libya also remain front of mind for many, although none of these occurrences have resulted in a disruption to oil supply. Ultimately, despite these geopolitical headlines and because of increased domestic production, oil prices continue to trade near multi-month lows. The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) settled at $97.35 per barrel at the close of formal trading Friday, which is 30 cents lower than the week before.
Tennessee’s average price is down to $3.21 per gallon and in Coffee County the price in Manchester has dipped to as low as $3.12 and in the Tullahoma the low price per gallon is $3.13.

This week, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation officially launched a new outreach to raise awareness of human trafficking in Tennessee.
The campaign, titled “IT Has To Stop,” hopes to increase awareness of human trafficking in Tennessee and beyond. The centerpiece of the campaign, ITHasToStop.com, features information, current research and statistics, video, important contacts, and links for visitors to join nonprofits and other groups in the efforts to curb trafficking in Tennessee. Visitors can also connect with the campaign on designated Facebook and Twitter accounts.
“Human trafficking is modern-day slavery, it’s unacceptable, and it’s a crime in Tennessee,” said TBI Director Mark Gwyn. “We hope TBI’s new public awareness campaign sheds some much-needed light on the issue, so we can increase the number of people who insist it has to stop in our state and beyond.”
Research by The Polaris Project, a national leader in the fight against human trafficking, indicates it to be one of the fastest-growing criminal enterprises in the United States. The U.S. Department of Justice and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimate the number of children bought and sold in the country for the purpose of sexual exploitation to number at least 100,000. The average age of a trafficking victim is 13.
For more information on the program go to www.ITHasToStop.com.