Health Information Management

Robber steals laptop containing information on 4,000 patients

HIPAA Weekly Advisor, March 6, 2006

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The PHI of almost 4,000 patients is at risk after a thief stole a laptop containing insurance claims, reports the Houston Chronicle.

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston, recently notified patients of the breach and advised them to monitor their credit reports. In November, the thief stole the laptop from the home of a PricewaterhouseCoopers employee who was reviewing the claims. The sensitive data was encrypted, Carrie Lyons, MD Anderson's chief privacy officer, told the Houston Chronicle.

The robber took other valuables from the home, leading investigators to believe that he or she had not targeted the information for theft.

Click here to read the Houston Chronicle article.



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