Owen Covington reports:
High Point-based Cornerstone Health Care has alerted more than 500 patients after a laptop at one of its practice locations that contained patient information was stolen earlier this year.
On Feb. 26, Cornerstone began reaching out to 548 patients of Cornerstone Neurology in High Point to let them know about the theft, and took steps to better secure laptops going forward.
Read more on The Business Journal.
A notice, prominently linked from their homepage, says:
Published on February 26, 2014
Notice for Cornerstone Health Care Patients Regarding Missing Laptop
Cornerstone Health Care values the trust placed in us by our patients and takes our responsibility to maintain the confidentiality of our patients’ data very seriously. Regrettably, this notice concerns an incident involving some of that information.
On January 6, 2014, Cornerstone learned that between December 31, 2013 and January 6, 2014, a laptop was identified as missing. The laptop was last seen on the premises on December 31, 2013. We immediately began an internal investigation and determined that the laptop contained information related to patients’ treatment at Cornerstone Neurology. The laptop was used exclusively for performing nerve conduction scans, and the data contained on the computer included patients’ first and last names, dates of birth, physician names, and a summary of the scans. The information DID NOT include social security numbers, addresses, or billing information.
We have no reason to believe that the laptop was taken for the information that it contains, however, as a precaution, we began mailing letters to affected patients on February 26, 2014. If you are concerned that you may be affected and have not received a letter before March 5, 2014, please contact Cornerstone toll free at 1-844-201-4310 or [email protected].
We sincerely regret that this incident occurred. To help prevent similar events in the future, we have installed new locks on all rooms in the facility that contain electronic devices, reviewed our information privacy and security policies, and provided education and training to Cornerstone staff regarding the importance of securing patient information. Please be assured that we take the privacy of our patients’ personal information seriously and that we will continue to implement improvements to protect our patients’ personal information.