3,500 patients impacted in laptop theft

Beth Walsh | | Health Exec | Cybersecurity

Yet another laptop theft is the source of a breach.

UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco has notified 3,541 patients of a breach of protected information after an unencrypted laptop was stolen from a liver transplant employee’s vehicle.

Data on the laptop, used at the Division of Transplantation, included personal and health information, as well as some Social Security numbers. Paper documents for 31 patients also were taken.

"We have reviewed the incident and are working to strengthen our educational and operational processes for safeguarding our patients' health information," Executive Director Reece Fawley wrote in the notification letter. "We trust that these measures will help to prevent a similar occurrence in the future."

 

 

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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