Breach Update: More Computer Thefts
California physician group alerts 22,000St. Jude Heritage Healthcare in Fullerton, which is affiliated with St. Jude Medical Center, reported the breach to local police and alerted the media and federal regulators as required under the HITECH Act breach notification rule. Many of the major breaches reported to federal regulators so far have stemmed from the theft or loss of devices.
The incident at the group practice involved the theft of 22 computers, but only five PCs contained patient records. Information involved might have included names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, member IDs, diagnosis and procedure codes, and encounter numbers.
The practice is offering patients free fraud monitoring services and advising them to place a fraud alert on their credit files.
Heritage had begun phasing in data encryption on its computers earlier this year and is continuing that effort, according to a statement.