Logan County Emergeny Ambulance Service Authority in West Virginia notified HHS that a missing laptop contained protected health information on 12,563. The only coverage I can find on this was in the Logan Banner on November 18. Martha Sparks reported:
Area residents who have been serviced by LEASA (Logan Emergency Ambulance Service Authority) may have their personal information breached.
On Thursday, Roger Bryant, director of LEASA, released the following statement:
“On or about October 1, 2011, Logan Emergency Ambulance Service Authority (“LEASA”) discovered that one of its portable computers was either lost or stolen. The portable computer contained personal health information for 12,563 patients, including patient names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and general health data.
“Upon its discovery that the device was missing, LEASA began investigating the circumstances surrounding the loss or theft and began actively monitoring the status of the device. The device has not been connected to the internet since October 1, 2011. LEASA is undertaking all known efforts to block and/of mitigate any potential misuse of this device. Additionally, LEASA has notified law enforcement authorities, and is taking other steps to further secure its computers and prohibit this unauthorized access from recurring. Although LEASA has found no evidence that this missing computer has been accessed for the purpose of identity theft or other illegitimate use, it is not possible for us to verify this fact at this time.
“LEASA has notified the individuals potentially affected by this breach and provided them with the contact information for the credit reporting agencies to protect themselves from the possibility of identity theft. Affected individuals can place a free fraud alert with any of the credit reporting agencies and will then receive information about obtaining a free credit report from each agency.
“LEASA also has notified the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and the three credit reporting agencies about missing device.
“For more information, affected individuals should contact Pam Sheppard at (304) 7920191 (ext. 201) Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. or by email to [email protected] for more information.”
Bryant was unable to comment on the matter.