12 moves to make now that Quest's lab portal has been breached

On Wednesday, Oct. 21, Quest Diagnostics discovered someone had gotten into Quanum Lab Services Manager, the web portal physician offices use to order lab tests and pull results. The next morning the company told federal regulators in a Form 8-K filing that it believes the intruder reached "certain patient records." Quest serves about half the physicians and hospitals in the U.S. each year, so there's a good chance your front desk, your medical assistants or your physicians have a login.

Quest says it has cut off the access and restored the system, according to its incident notice and FAQ, last updated Oct. 23. It hasn't said how many patients or practices are involved, which data fields were exposed or how the intruder got in. Quest says that as the covered entity, it will notify affected patients and providers once its investigation is complete. It has not given a timeline.

Your practice doesn't have to wait for that letter. The breach touches logins your staff share, orders that moved on paper and fax while the portal was down, results that may not have landed and patients who will call you before they call Quest. Here are 12 moves to make now.