Valley Dental Group is committed to protecting the confidentiality and security of our patients’ information. Regrettably, this notice concerns an incident involving some of that information that we provided to American Dental Partners, Inc. (“ADPI”) in connection with the services ADPI provides.

ADPI provides various services to dental care providers, and maintains information related to those services. The services ADPI provides vary, but includes procurement, operations, specialty, practice management systems, payroll and benefits, training, and professional services.

On September 20, 2019, ADPI provided us with written notification that its investigation into an email phishing incident determined that unauthorized parties obtained access to several ADPI employee email accounts and created rules in some of the accounts to forward a limited number of emails from those accounts to an unauthorized external email account. Upon first learning of the incident, ADPI immediately took steps to secure the email accounts and began an investigation with the assistance of a cyber security firm. Through the investigation, ADPI determined that, between the dates of July 11, 2019 and July 24, 2019, unauthorized parties may have accessed and received emails and attachments that contained our patients’ information, which we provided to ADPI in connection with ADPI’s services. The information may have included patient names, dates of birth, and limited treatment and/or clinical information.

This incident did not involve all Valley Dental Group patients; only a limited number of our patients whose protected health information or personal information was contained in the emails and attachments.  

There is no indication that any patient information has been misused. However, out of an abundance of caution, ADPI has mailed letters to our patients whose information was identified in the accounts. ADPI has also established a dedicated toll-free call center to answer questions patients may have about the incident. If you have questions, please call 1-844-996-1029, from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday.

We and ADPI recommend that patients regularly review the statements they receive from their health insurer or health care provider. If you see services that you did not receive, please contact the insurer or provider immediately.

ADPI regrets any concern or inconvenience this incident may cause. ADPI remains committed to protecting the confidentiality and security of our patients’ information. To further protect personal information, ADPI is implementing additional safeguards and technical security measures.