How do I know if I am affected by the Wendy Foster OD data breach?

Wendy Foster OD is mailing notification letters directly to affected individuals. If you have received care or services from Wendy Foster OD (also operating as Vision Care 4Life) in the period leading up to February 2026 and you have not received a letter, contact the entity directly. 20,000 individuals were confirmed affected in the HHS OCR filing.

What data was exposed in the Wendy Foster OD breach?

According to the notification letter and supporting filings, the compromised data included: Full name, Date of birth, Home address, phone, email, Social Security number, Medical records and treatment information, Vision diagnostic records (refraction, retinal imaging, diagnoses), Health insurance information.

Was Wendy Foster OD attacked by a ransomware group?

No threat actor has publicly claimed responsibility for the Wendy Foster OD breach. The incident is categorized in the HHS OCR portal as a ransomware.

What is HealthConsent and how does it help with the Wendy Foster OD breach?

HealthConsent is an independent health-data privacy service. We help affected individuals stop the ongoing flow of their health information by filing HIPAA restriction requests, FTC Health Breach Notification Rule deletion requests, and state-law deletion requests across providers, insurers, Health Information Exchanges, prescription networks, and data brokers. Credit monitoring offered by Wendy Foster OD addresses identity-theft risk; HealthConsent addresses the longer-tail problem of your exposed health data continuing to be sold and shared by other entities downstream.

Active breach tracker Wichita, KS Disclosed February 9, 2026

Wendy Foster OD / Vision Care 4Life Data Breach 2026 (Ransomware): 20,000 Kansas Optometry Patients Exposed. What To Do

Q: Should I file a lawsuit over the Wendy Foster OD data breach?

3 plaintiffs' firms have publicly announced investigations or filed complaints related to the Wendy Foster OD breach: Cole & Van Note (publicly investigating), Strauss Borrelli (publicly investigating), Shamis & Gentile (publicly investigating). We are not a law firm and cannot give legal advice; consult your own attorney to evaluate your options.

Wendy Foster, O.D., a Wichita, Kansas optometry practice operating as Vision Care 4Life, was affected by a December 2025 ransomware attack exposing names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, vision diagnostics, and medical records for 20,000 patients. Reported to HHS OCR February 2026. Here is what to do.

You have options. Scroll for the exact action steps, what your provider’s response covers, and what your health data needs beyond credit monitoring.

By HealthConsent Editorial Last updated May 15, 2026 Sources & methodology

Timeline

Dec 12, 2025

Ransomware attack; unauthorized network access

Dec 12, 2025

Breach detected

Feb 9, 2026

Filed with HHS OCR; notifications mailed

Dec 12, 2025

Ransomware attack; unauthorized network access

Dec 12, 2025

Breach detected

Feb 9, 2026

Filed with HHS OCR; notifications mailed

Data exposed

High-risk identity

Enables financial + identity theft

Date of birth Social Security number

Health records

Don't expire and can't be reissued

Medical records and treatment information Vision diagnostic records (refraction, retinal imaging, diagnoses)

Contact & insurance

Phishing + targeted scams

Full name Home address, phone, email Health insurance information

Class actions filed by

These firms have publicly announced investigations. You may be eligible to join. We are not a law firm and cannot give legal advice.

Cole & Van Note (publicly investigating) Strauss Borrelli (publicly investigating) Shamis & Gentile (publicly investigating)

If you received a letter

Your action plan, in five steps.

You have more rights than the notification letter explains. Each step below is a concrete thing you can do today. Full detail and timing in the sections that follow.

Accept credit monitoring

It’s the floor of the response. Take it.

Freeze your credit

Free at Equifax, Experian, TransUnion.

File IRS Form 14039

Prevent fraudulent tax return under your SSN.

Review your EOBs

Insurance statements catch medical identity theft early.

Stop the ongoing flow

Credit monitoring doesn’t cover your health records. HealthConsent does.

Jump to step 5: protect my health data

What happened

Wendy Foster, O.D. is a Wichita, Kansas solo-doctor optometry practice operating under the brand Vision Care 4Life. Services include eye exams, contact lenses, pediatric exams, vision therapy, IPL/LLLT treatment, and surgical co-management.

On December 12, 2025, the practice was hit by a ransomware attack that resulted in unauthorized access to patient records. The forensic review preceded the public OCR filing on February 9, 2026, which confirmed 20,000 affected individuals. Multiple plaintiffs’ firms announced investigations starting March 4, 2026. The specific ransomware group has not been publicly identified, and no dark-web leak-site listing has surfaced.

The practice’s own website (visioncare4life.com) has not posted a public breach notice.

What was stolen

Per Cole & Van Note’s investigation page:

Full name, date of birth, address, phone, email
Social Security numbers
Medical records and treatment information
Vision diagnostic records — refraction history, retinal imaging, condition diagnoses (diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, etc., that double as systemic-health indicators)
Health insurance information

Vision-care PHI carries an unusually broad disclosure: retinal imaging and refraction-trend data can imply diabetes status, hypertension, and other systemic conditions even when those diagnoses are not explicitly in the file.

What the practice is offering

No credit-monitoring vendor, term, or enrollment URL has been disclosed in any reviewed public source. Affected individuals should rely on the specifics in their mailed notification letter.

Practice contact: 316-682-9891 / [email protected]

What to do

Place free credit freezes at Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Full SSN is in scope.
File IRS Form 14039.
If you are a Kansas resident, K.S.A. 50-7a02 governs breach notification; you may be eligible for additional state-law remedies.
Stop the ongoing flow of your vision diagnostic data. HealthConsent files HIPAA restriction requests across vision-care data brokers and downstream entities.

Continue reading

Stop your data from spreading further

Credit monitoring covers your wallet. HealthConsent covers your health records.

Your stolen diagnoses, test results, and medical record numbers don’t expire when the free credit-monitoring window ends. HealthConsent automates HIPAA restriction requests and opt-outs across providers, insurers, HIEs, and prescription networks so the data taken in this breach can’t keep being shared and sold by other entities downstream.

Protect my health data

Cancel anytime · Family plan covers spouses + dependents

Sources & further reading

Official HHS OCR Breach Portal: ocrportal.hhs.gov

About this page

This page is compiled from public regulatory filings, the breached entity’s own disclosures, and reporting from established healthcare-privacy outlets. Some sections are assembled with the help of automated research and may contain errors, summaries that lag the underlying source, or details that have since been revised. Treat it as a starting point, not legal advice or an authoritative record. If you spot something inaccurate, the linked sources above are the canonical record. For questions about your individual situation, contact the breached entity directly or consult a licensed attorney.