A hospital auditing company has reported a laptop containing data from nearly 31,000 patients was stolen, according to the McCook Gazette.
As a result, McCook, Neb.-based Community Hospital is notifying 4,200 patients that may been affected by the breach.
The laptop belonged to an employee of the auditing company, Seim Johnson, and was reported stolen in December. Seim Johnson has verified the laptop had encryption software but can't say with certainty that the software was functioning properly.
The information contained on the laptop included personal patient identifiers, such as names and patient account or medical record numbers. Social Security numbers may have been included for some individuals, but no financial information was compromised, according to the Gazette.
"Any patients who were potentially impacted by this situation have received letters from Seim Johnson notifying them of the event," Rachel Berry, Community Hospital director of health information management and privacy officer, told the Gazette. "We are not aware of any activity that would make us believe the information has actually been accessed or viewed on the stolen laptop computer."
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.