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Thousands of patient records stolen from Washington hospital
Healthcare Security Weekly, January 30, 2006
The FBI and the local sheriff's department are searching for whoever stole more than 360,000 patient medical records out of a hospital employee's minivan in Oregon, reports KOMO-TV.com.
Providence Health System in Seattle says it stores its records on computer disks and digital tape and a systems analyst took the records home. Someone broke into the systems analyst's van by breaking a window.
The hospital says it's common for supervisors to take backup copies home and that the records only included home health patients, some dating back to 1987.
The records contain patients' names, addresses, Social Security information, and other sensitive health information.
The hospital has alerted patients most at risk, mainly those who received oxygen or medical equipment.
The attorney general's office is investigating whether the hospital violated any state laws by not taking reasonable measures to protect against a breach of security and why it took the hospital three weeks to alert patients of the theft.
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