HIPAA Journal reports:
Nonprofit biomedical research company Huntington Medical Research Institutes (HMRI) has announced two HIPAA breaches in the space of a month: One involving the improper disposal of records, the other an alleged theft of patient data by a former employee.
The insider breach reportedly impacted 4,300 patients. Read more on HIPAA Journal. The full text of HMRI’s notices follows:
06 Oct NOTICE OF HIPAA BREACH
NOTICE OF HIPAA BREACH
HMRI takes patient privacy very seriously. Regrettably, some of our small glass laboratory slides and paper records were disposed of in a way that did not conform to our policies. We first learned of this incident on August 6, and our investigation concluded only recently. Some slides and paper records may have been improperly disposed of up to approximately two weeks prior to our discovery. Affected patients’ names, some demographic information such as date of birth, clinical information such as diagnosis, treatment, tissue source, specimen information, specific tests ordered, and referring physician information, as well as some billing information, may have been included in these records and/or slides.
Importantly, the information involved did NOT include any Social Security numbers or patient credit card or other financial payment card information.
At this time we are not aware of any actions patients need to take. HMRI is diligently following up on this incident and taking reasonable actions to prevent similar incidents in the future. Among other actions, HMRI is reinforcing the training of staff who have access to patient health information, and strengthening data security. To find out if your information may have been included in these slides/records or to learn more about this incident, please contact us at 1-800-690-0069 or [email protected].
and
20 Oct NOTICE OF HIPAA BREACH
NOTICE OF HIPAA BREACH
On August 20, 2015, HMRI learned that a former employee might have taken electronic patient health information related to HMRI’s laboratory. HMRI believes this former employee took this information around the time of the former employee’s departure on July 31, 2015. HMRI continues to investigate this incident and seek return of all HMRI patient health information. At this time, HMRI has no reason to believe this information has been or will be misused. The information included patients’ names, some demographic information such as date of birth, clinical information such as diagnosis, treatment, tissue specimen source, other specimen information, specific tests ordered, and referring physician information, as well as some billing information.
The information did NOT include any Social Security numbers or patient credit card or other financial payment card information.
At this time we are not aware of any actions patients need to take. HMRI is diligently following up on this incident and taking reasonable actions to prevent similar incidents in the future. Among other actions, HMRI is reinforcing the training of staff who have access to patient health information, and strengthening data security. To find out if your information may have been included in the affected records or to learn more about this incident, please contact us at 1-800-690-0069 or [email protected].