Seth Robson reports:
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Air Force officials have sent warnings to 593 people to be on the lookout for signs of identity theft after their medical records were found at a servicemember’s home on Yokota Air Base.
The 374th Airlift Wing announced last week that the documents — which included the names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers and health records of people who sought medical advice or treatment in 2008 and 2009 — were discovered as part of an investigation into another matter in May.
However, those potentially affected by the breach in privacy weren’t notified until mid-October.
Read more on Stars and Stripes.
I’m surprised that it took them a while to classify this as a breach that requires reporting under HIPAA. Even if the data were not misused for financial fraud, if documents were in the servicemember’s home, how many unauthorized individuals may have viewed confidential health records?