Maryland has updated its web site to provide breach notifications that it has received since its last update. The newly posted notifications are for the period ending December 31, 2009. Some of the breaches described in the notifications were reported in the media at the time, but I spotted a number of previously unknown breaches from the healthcare sector or reports that either update us or provide additional information that may be of interest.
Updates on Previously Revealed Incidents:
- A number of entities reported breaches as part of the Blue Cross Blue Shield stolen laptop incident previously covered in the media and on this site. If you would like to see some of the individual reports submitted to Maryland, they are: Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield, Highmark, Inc., and Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield.
- BCBS of Tennessee reported the theft of 57 hard drives in a very detailed letter, which I commented on, here.
- As noted in a previous post, the media report on the Universal American breach may have misled some of us into viewing this incident as a business sector breach. According to the breach notification submitted to the state, however, the exposed data were Medicare Identification Numbers.
Incidents Not Previously Known:
- California Business Bureau Medical Billing Services reported that unencrypted files with names, addresses, SSN, and dates of birth of 8,861 individuals were inappropriately accessed by a former employee between December 2006 and March 2008. The theft was detected in November 2008 and it took the firm until almost August 2009 to figure out which records were accessed and to notify affected individuals.
- DaVita reported that Renal Treatment Centers Southeast – LP, an affiliate of DaVita, suffered a data loss when a DaVita facility in Dallas was burglarized and multiple desktop computers were stolen. The stolen hard drives contained dialysis insurance documents which contained patients’ names, addresses, SSN, insurance numbers, treatment records, progress notes, and other personal or medical information.
- DJO reported that a laptop was stolen from an Empi Recovery Services employee’s car in Minneapolis. The laptop contained unencrypted patient data including names, addresses, SSN, accounts receivable balance, and insurance company.
- Quest Diagnostics reported that a laptop stolen from an AmeriPath employee in Orlando, Florida contained names, addresses, and SSN. AmeriPath is a Quest Diagnostics company. It is not clear from the notification whether the data are employee data or patient data.