On December 13, 2014 Mercy Medical Center Redding Oncology Clinic discovered that transcribed physician progress notes containing your demographic and treatment information for services provided during June – October 2014, were publically accessible on a third party website. Upon discovery the third party removed the link from their website rendering the information no longer accessible. The information disclosed included your name, medical record number, date of birth, age, date of service, diagnosis, medications, review of systems, current therapy, and treatment plan. No social security numbers or other financial information were involved. There is no indication that information has been used for any unlawful purpose. Nevertheless, in accordance to California law we are notifying you of the incident.
The letter, signed by Dignity Health, did not indicate how many patients were impacted nor the name of the transcription service or third party referred to in the letter.
The incident does not (yet?) appear on HHS’s public breach tool.
Update of 12-22-14: the breach affected more than 600 patients, so we should see it eventually on HHS’s public breach tool.