The Chautauqua Center

WebPT reported to Chautauqua Physical and Occupational Therapy on January 20, 2023 of a breach involving 747 patients whose personal information was inadvertently made accessible to other healthcare facilities.

The breach happened during an upgrade of WebPT’s records on December 22, 2022.

Following an internal investigation, WebPT deemed this information exposure not to be a breach. They determined that any misuse of data to be minimal based upon the limited nature of the data, the fact that there was no hack or release to the public, and access was limited to certain healthcare facilities using WebPT.

TCC and Chautauqua Physical & Occupational Therapy are notifying all affected individuals, including a description of the types of information or patient data exposed.

The company said no sensitive consumer information, including social security numbers, date of birth, insurance numbers, addresses, driver’s license numbers, or other similarly sensitive information, was exposed and/or accessible during the breach.

TCC said WebPT was able to disable access to the report within 19 hours and is making changes to review process and training to avoid this happening again.

TCC’s Chautauqua Physical and Occupational Therapy has responded by ending its use of WebPT and switched electronic medical records providers to Athenahealth’s EMR program or service called athenaOne.

Any individuals who have questions may contact the TCC Privacy Officer at privacyofficer@thechautauquacenter.org or by calling 716‐294‐3990.

Face masks

The state Department of Health announced Friday that the mask mandate would expire Sunday, February 12. Health care facilities will be able to craft their own masking rules based on CDC guidance that takes local case counts, COVID transmission levels, and open hospital beds into account.

The CDC dropped its mask requirement for health care facilities last fall.

The latest from the DOH does not affect any facility requirements unrelated to COVID-19, including those in place for Influenza.

WRFA contacted UPMC Chautauqua and The Chautauqua Center on whether their mask requirements have changed.

Only TCC responded, stating they are not changing their masking policy. Masks are still required at TCC, Chautauqua PT & OT, and Tri-County Family Medicine until further review and notice.

The Chautauqua Center

This is the latest acquisition by TCC following Chautauqua Physical and Occupational Therapy merging with the federally-qualified health center in September 2022.

TCC CEO Michael Pease said in a statement, “We are confident that this merger will result in the long-term sustainability of Tri-County Family Medicine. We commit to providing the highest quality of care to existing and new patients, with no lapses in services.”

Tri-County Family Medicine co-founder Dr. James Wild said, “We strongly believe that this acquisition will bring great benefit to our patients and the community as a whole, as we continue to deliver efficient, effective, accessible, and affordable healthcare.”

TCC officials expect the merger to be completed soon and said patients should not experience any disruption in service.

Tri-County Family Medicine continues to accept new patients. For more information, call (716) 241-7067 or visit www.tri-countyfamilymedicine.com.

Chautauqua Physical and Occupational Therapy

The Chautauqua Center President Mike Pease said the merger will keep business as usual for the organizations, “They’re going to remain in their locations that they’re currently in. They’ll still serve the community the way they’ve been serving the community and they’ll just become part of The Chautauqua Center as another service line.”

Pease said Chautauqua Physical and Occupational Therapy, which is currently privately owned, will benefit from the merger in a couple ways, including medicaid reimbursements given that TCC is a federally qualified health care center, “As a health center, Chautauqua Center enjoys an enhanced reimbursement for those folks, so that will help the business side of Chautauqua PT/TCC. But on the employee side, because they were a private practice that is a for-profit organization, their staff weren’t necessarily eligible for things like the public service loan forgiveness program. So, this will open the door to those folks being able to apply for that.”

Pease said he hopes that with the enhanced medicaid reimbursement that both agencies will be to reach more vulnerable populations in the area. He said owners Pat and Susan Green will continue running the programs at their facilities with CP-OT staff staying on board.

Pease said the timeline for the merger to go forward is pending the state’s approval of TCC’s certificate of need that’s been submitted. He said once that’s granted, it’ll be about 60 days for everything to be completed.