The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center notified patients on June 28 that a physician?s laptop containing personal information was stolen ? nearly two months ago.
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center? notified patients on June 28 that a physician?s laptop containing personal information was stolen ? nearly two months ago.
The unencrypted laptop was stolen from the physician?s home on April 30, and on May 1 M.D. Anderson began working with forensics experts to determine what data the computer contained. That investigation revealed the laptop contained information on nearly 30,000 patients, whom M.D. Anderson began notifying immediately, said Dan Fontaine, M.D. Anderson senior vice president for business affairs.
However, the data was not consistent among all patients, Fontaine said. Social security numbers were present for roughly one-third of the patients. Those patients are eligible for a credit monitoring service paid for by M.D. Anderson.
M.D. Anderson waited to notify patients until it had a ?high degree of certainty? regarding the information, Fontaine said, because the information on the laptop was not consistent for each patient and it did not want to cause undue panic.
?We moved with as much dispatch as we could, not wanting to create unnecessary anxiety? for unaffected patients, Fontaine said.
Other patient information on the laptop included names, medical record numbers, and treatment and/or research information.
Due to the theft, M.D. Anderson has stepped up its encryption program. The center had been encrypting devices for ?quite some time? prior to the theft, Fontaine said. However, factors such as balancing employees? need to communicate with patients via personal devices and dealing with technical problems caused by encryption had made the process slower than desired. Now M.D. Anderson has brought on additional staff and ?basically has opened a 24/7 encryption center,? he said.
Olivia Pulsinelli is the web producer for the Houston Business Journal's award-winning website.
Source: http://feeds.bizjournals.com/~r/vertical_40/~3/3w9pSCDFlMA/md-anderson-cancer-center-notifies.html
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