Lost drive source of KP's second data breach this fall
A lost USB flash drive is the source of Kaiser Permanente's second data breach this fall.
The organization is notifying patients seen at its Anaheim Medical Center in California that their protected health information has been compromised but there is no word yet on how many patients are affected.
The drive was discovered missing on Sept. 25, according to patient notification letters sent out Nov. 25. Patient names, dates of birth and medical record numbers were all contained on the drive.This breach follows an incident in September in which 670 patients were notified that an email attachment containing the protected health information of patients was sent to a recipient outside the Kaiser network. Patient names, medical record numbers, email addresses, employers, phone numbers, department names and appointment dates for health screenings were sent to the recipient.
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.