According to a Knox News report, officials from the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, Tenn. are notifying approximately 8,000 patients that the facility did not properly dispose of hospital reports containing private information, posing potential risk of a privacy data breach.
Also in August 2005, a computer was stolen from UT Medical Center’s West Knoxville billing office which contained names and other information of 3,800 people who received treatment at the hospital in 2003.
Officers View on This Data Breach
UT Medical Center spokesman Jim Ragonese said on Friday that “based on an internal investigation there is no reason to believe any patient information was disclosed, used or accessed inappropriately”. Ragonese said the hospital is sending potentially affected patient’s letters about the breach “out of an abundance of caution.” We are providing letter recipients with information about how to receive free credit reports and are creating a toll-free telephone line specifically to answer questions pertaining to this incident, Ragonese said.
According to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy Officer “Gary Thomas” for UT Medical Center, the hospital became aware on Oct. 4 that records were disposed of without being shredded. Thomas explained in his letter to affected patients that “a daily administrative report was automatically printed to a secure location inside the hospital.” Once printed, a hospital employee placed the report in a storage location within the department for later access. “Based upon departmental policy, the report was maintained for 45 days. The oldest report was discarded each day as a current report was added.
Officials of UT Medical Center said there is no reason to believe any patient information was disclosed, used or access inappropriately and patient-related information likely became unreadable during the hospital’s waste management process post-disposal. Thomas said the medical center immediately corrected the disposal process for the reports amid an extensive investigation into the issue. Thomas wrote to the patients that please be assured that we have taken numerous steps in an attempt to mitigate any potential harm to you, “As indicated previously, based on our investigation we do not believe any information was disclosed, used or accessed inappropriately.”
He added that all information was rendered unreadable during the hospital’s waste management process shortly after the disposal. Thomas said the hospital staff members involved in the incident has been “sanctioned” and employees are being retrained in proper procedures for document disposal. The hospital has corrected the disposal process and is taking extra measures to ensure the proper disposal of patient information, including retraining of employees and sanctions against involved hospital staff members, according to the report.
Thomas advises affected patients to:
Get a copy of their credit reports and look for signs of fraud and immediately report any unusual activity, continue to monitor their mail and credit reports and look for signs of identity theft and contact one of the three major credit bureaus to place a fraud alert on their credit report if warranted. UT Medical Center also advises the patients to contact it beginning Dec. 1 with any questions. The hospital’s toll-free number, 877-394-0517, will be active on Dec. 1 8 a.m.-11 p.m.
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