Natalie Tendall reports that hundreds of people’s identities and personal medical information was found in a dumpster by someone who contacted the police and news station.
The documents contain social security numbers, birth dates and very private health information from hundreds of people in the area…… Hundreds of people’s private, health documents including STD test orders, drug screenings and gynecological visit results. All with names, birth dates and social security numbers attached.
Ugh.
Tendall reports:
The majority of the health documents we obtained were from the Community Hospital in Springfield dated from 2005 and 2006. There were some from 2001.
That hospital doesn’t exist anymore. We did some digging to find out who took over the records and our search took us to Springfield Regional Medical Center.
And wait for it….. a statement from the latter in response to the incident said, part, “we take seriously the privacy and confidentiality of our patients’ information.”
Of course.
Read more on WDTN. This is obviously a reportable breach under HIPAA and we may see it on HHS’s public breach tool at some point.
Thank goodness for responsible and honest citizens who report these things when they discover them.