A Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in South Dakota is notifying patients after an employee accidentally threw a box containing 1,100 patient records into a dumpster, according to an article published by Rapid City Journal.
The incident at VA Black Hills Health Care System, based in Hot Springs, SD, threw the box into a dumpster on May 15, according to a release, and another employee found the box and files on May 17.
The files contained patient names, Social Security numbers, phone numbers and addresses but did not include individual medical histories.
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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.