Health Information Management

Hospital bills fly off truck, onto streets of Cleveland

HIPAA Weekly Advisor, April 11, 2005

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Three thousand itemized hospital bills from Lakewood and Marymount hospitals, both part of the Cleveland Health Clinic, landed on the streets of Cleveland Tuesday when a courier hit something in the road causing the back of the truck to open and loosen one of the boxes of papers inside, reported the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

The papers contained patient names, addresses, insurance information, admission and discharge dates, physician names, and billing information.

Immediately after the incident, the truck driver contacted his company and began picking up the papers. Both the Clinic and the courier service deployed recovery teams.

Hospital officials began contacting patients Wednesday about the incident. They also set up a hotline at 216/636-8051 that patients concerned about identity theft and confidentiality can call. The hotline is staffed from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. After hours, patients can call 216/444-8942 and leave a voicemail.



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