Health Information Management

Second VA computer disappears

HIPAA Weekly Advisor, August 14, 2006

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The information of approximately 38,000 patients may be at risk after a Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) computer disappeared from the office of VA subcontractor Unisys Corporation, the company announced. The desktop computer is the second device to have gone missing from the VA; the first one carried information for more than 26 million veterans.

Unisys Corporation, which helps with VA insurance collections in Pennsylvania, reported the computer missing on August 3. Although the investigation is still proceeding, the computer might have stored patient names, addresses, Social Security numbers, birth dates, and other sensitive information. According to The Washington Post, the data is unencrypted.

Click here to read The Washington Post article.



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