A recent entry in HHS’s breach tool referred to a breach allegedly involving Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. As it turns out when I began to try to find details of the breach, the breach was not at LBMMC, but was at Memorial Health Services (MemorialCare Health System).
MHS has provided a copy of its statement on the incident:
Memorial Health Services announced it notified 2,250 patients who may have been impacted by a privacy breach in 2009 and 2010 by a former employee working in the central business office.
Patients affected were notified in writing, given a toll-free telephone number to address questions or concerns and offered one year of free credit monitoring services. Patients with questions regarding this incident can call 1-877-810-7928.
At this time, there is no reason to believe the information was used in a malicious manner or one that would impact quality of patient care. The information accessed included the name, Social Security number, date of birth, home address, phone number, account number and admit reason.
Memorial Health Services takes this incident seriously and has reviewed computer security procedures and determined that network security was not breached. It will continue to thoroughly review and strengthen its procedures to ensure the highest level of patient privacy possible and take all necessary steps to safeguard personal information. Memorial Health Services is in compliance with state and federal reporting requirements.