On November 15, I reported on some updates to HHS’s breach tool. One of the entries I wrote was: The Hospital for Special Surgery in New York reported that 537 patients had PHI stolen on March 19, although it’s not clear from HHS’s log whether the data were stolen from a computer or if the computer itself…
Category: Health Data
[CORRECTED] Woman Sues Customs and Border Protection Agents for Outrageous Six-Hour Search
[CORRECTION and APOLOGY: The original headline for this post incorrectly identified the defendants as “Border Patrol Agents.” They are not. The complaint was filed against a number of defendants, including “Two Unknown United States Customs and Border Protection Supervising Agents; United States Customs and Border Protection Agent Portillo and United States Customs and Border Protection Agent Herrera.”…
Laptop containing some Tennova patient info stolen from contractor's car
WBIR reports that 2,777 patients referred to Tennova Cardiology by Summit Medical Group in Tennessee are being notified that their PHI was on a laptop stolen from the car of an unnamed third-party transcription contractor. The theft occurred October 22. The information on the stolen laptop may include names, dates of birth, referring physician names,…
Washington Dept. Social & Health Services sends sensitive info to wrong addresses
Christine Claridge reports: The personal information of up to 7,000 households receiving assistance from the state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) was sent in error to incorrect or old addresses, according the state Economic Services Administration (ESA). The administration confirmed in a news statement released Thursday that the private information of at least…
Psychological assessments provider notifies patients after laptop with PHI stolen in office burglary
A breach reported by Comprehensive Psychological Services LLC in South Carolina was added to HHS’s public breach tool yesterday. According to HHS’s entry, 3,500 patients were notified after a laptop was stolen from the practice’s office on October 28. Comprehensive Psychological Services LLC offers a range of assessment and evaluation procedures including neuropsychological testing, educational…
Two laptops with PHI stolen from UHS-Pruitt employees' cars in a two-week period
One of the breaches added to HHS’s public breach list today gave me a bit of a headache. Well, to be honest, they generally all give me a headache, but this one took me time to sort out. And although I may have a headache now, I suspect UHS-Pruitt may have a bigger headache. It…