Patients at Kindred Transitional Care and Rehabilitation – Lawton are being notified that a computer containing limited health information was stolen from a locked office. Kindred learned of the theft on August 31, although it may have occurred as early as August 28.
In a letter dated September 21, Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer Kelly Priegnitz writes that files on the computer contained information including patients’ name and one or more of the following: admission and discharge dates, facility name, Kindred-issued patient number, and certain accounting-related information such as copayment or days of Medicare use.
Social Security numbers, Medicare numbers, and credit card or financial information was not involved, and there were no details about care or treatment on the computer.
“Although the computer was password-protected, we cannot rule out the possibility that any information contained on the computer could be accessed by an unauthorized person. We are not aware of improper use of the limited information about you contained on the computer,” Priegnitz writes.
The incident was promptly reported to law enforcement. A copy of the notification letter can be found on the web site of the Attorney General of California.
Update: This was reported to HHS as impacting 1,125 patients.