Stolen laptop impacts 55K patients of Indianapolis practice

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Personal health information for approximately 55,000 patients at Indianapolis-based Cancer Care Group was compromised after a bag with a laptop containing the company's computer server back-up media was stolen from an employee's locked vehicle in July.

The stolen laptop contained names, addresses, birth dates and Social Security numbers for patients, as well as medical record numbers and insurance information, according to the Indianapolis Business Journal. It also contained similar information about employees of the group of more than 20 oncologists.

The laptop has not been recovered and the affected patients and employees have been notified, the practice says.

"There is no evidence to believe that the backup media were the target of the theft or that any of the information on the media has been accessed or used for fraudulent purposes," spokesman Clyde Lee told The IndyChannel.com. The group is in the process of encrypting all mobile media and updating policies and procedures regarding data safety.

Beth Walsh,

Editor

Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.

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