Health Information Management

Lost cards lead to breach of 2,284

HIPAA Weekly Advisor, December 20, 2010

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An employee of an Arizona medical center lost compact memory data cards that contained the personal health information of 2,284 endoscopy patients, the Arizona Republic reported December 13.

Mountain Vista Medical Center discovered October 13 the compact memory data cards from endoscopy procedures from January of 2008 to October of this year were missing.

The lost information included:

  • Patients’ full name
  • Date of birth
  • Age
  • Sex
  • Hospital medical record number
  • Physician’s last names
  • Information and images from endoscopy procedures

The staff at the medical center contacted patients about the missing data cards and suggested patients monitor their credit reports.

The medical center changed its security practices regarding the compact memory data card storage. It retrained all its employees on security and confidentiality procedures.
 



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