Steven A. Goldman, MD Inc. in Ohio recently notified HHS of a breach that occurred on June 29, 2014.
Dr. Goldman, who is a plastic surgeon, posted a notice to patients on the website of Beachwood-Lakewood Plastic Surgery :
To our valued patients:
We take our patients’ privacy seriously, and it is important to us that you are made aware of a potential issue. On June 29, 2014, several offices in the Parkway Medical complex (3609 and 3619 Park East Drive) were burglarized, including Beachwood Plastic Surgery. Approximately 20 Beachwood businesses have been burglarized in the last few months. Computer hardware that stored personal information of some of our patients was stolen during the burglary in our office. This information included names and limited medical information, but did not include personal information such as addresses or phone numbers.
The Beachwood police have informed us that they believe this hardware was taken because it can back-up office security systems, and it is unlikely the perpetrators purposefully stole any personal information.
We wanted to inform you about this event and let you know that the police have an ongoing investigation of a string of burglaries in Beachwood. We, and other offices, continue to assist in the investigation. We have a security and surveillance system in place. Unfortunately, a cleaning crew failed to re-activate our system the night of the crime.
We are acutely aware of the importance of your personal information and have taken a number of precautions to protect it. As you may know, we do not collect our patients’ social security numbers. We also never store any credit card information in our office. We also believe that no data linking birth dates to names were compromised. However, as a precaution, we are offering you one year of credit monitoring at no cost. This service is provided by All Clear ID, an organization that watches for, and reports to you, unusual credit activity, such as applications for new bank or credit card accounts in your name. All Clear ID can also request that the three credit bureaus place a “Fraud Alert” on your credit report. If you would like to receive this service, please respond by November 8th, 2014.
If you have any questions or would like to enroll in the credit monitoring service, please call 1-877-615-3745.
Sincerely,
Jessica Morris
Practice Manager for Dr. Steven Goldman
According to the notification to HHS, 6,141 patients had information on the stolen server(s).