Lydia Camarillo reports:
Your medical information may be at risk after local clinic, Urological Associates of Southern Arizona, found problems after a recent investigation. In a release from the company saying an alarming discovery was recently made in May.
Some employees at their Tanque Verde and Green Valley clinics did not dispose of patient urine specimen cups correctly, possibly from as far back as April 2011 to May 2014. A recent investigation revealed that some labels were not removed off specimen cups before being thrown in the trash. Disposing of and shredding the labels is part of company policy.
Urological Associates say they notified more than 3,000 patients that may be affected. According to the release, there is no indication that anyone accessed their trash or patient information.Here’s a look at the information on those specimen cups. The labels always contain the following:
- patient name
- date of birth
- internal chart number
- physician name
- date of service
Read more on Tucson News Now.
The media report does not indicate how the practice became aware of the problem, and I do not see any notice on the practice’s website at this time. Nor is the incident up on HHS’s public breach tool (yet).
Update of August 5: The incident is now on HHS’s breach tool as affecting 3,529 patients.