UPDATE of Dec. 28: The medical center now states that there was NO patient data on the stolen computer. Good news, indeed!
Original post:
Four days after a computer was stolen from Inspira Medical Center Vineland, the hospital still can’t say whether there was any patient data on it?
That’s absurd. Just ask the staff who were using it whether they entered patient data on it. If they say “Yes, we used it for every radiology patient,” then you have your answer. You may not know which patients or what data yet, but at least you’d be able to say whether patient data was on it or not. Significantly, perhaps, the employee who reported the theft to the police told them that patient data was on the computer.
If HHS investigates this incident, I expect they’ll want to know how it is that after four days, the hospital couldn’t say whether any patient data were on a computer. Doesn’t that suggest a lack of inventory or safeguards at the very least?