Patient Records on Fire in Atlanta
Hundreds of patient records were found partially burned across the street from Southside Medical Clinic in Atlanta. The records, left in plain sight, included medication information, personal information, and patient Security numbers. According to WSB-TV, individual patients have been able to identify their information on files that were found. Southside Medical says they are currently investigating the issue.
Stolen Bag Results In Surgery Schedule Breach
Anesthesia Associates of Kansas City has found itself apologizing to patients after one of their nurse anesthetists had a bag stolen from his vehicle back in December. The bag contained patient information and surgery schedules and was immediately investigated after the theft was discovered. There has been no indication that the information has been misused, but the bag has also not yet been recovered.
Stolen Laptop Jeopardizes 971 Colorado Patients
Stolen laptops are in the news again — this time at Rocky Mountain Health Care Services (RMHCS) where the theft of an employee’s laptop was discovered in May of 2018. RMHCS is now busy reviewing and updating policies and procedures around information security and mobile device management as well as paying for credit monitoring and identity theft restoration for affected patients. This issue isn’t new to the organization — RMHCS was left dealing with a similar incident in 2017 when a former employee’s cell phone and laptop were stolen.
Nurses Abandoning Patients, Showing up to Work Drunk in Drug Diversion Case
Drug diversion is a topic of conversation yet again in Massachusetts; this time, with 30 nurses having their licenses suspended, revoked or voluntarily surrendered. The case involves a mixture of issues including abuse and neglect but the majority were related to drug addiction.
One nurse lost her license after showing up high while others admitted to diverting drugs, including Oxycodone, for personal use.
Addiction Center Stepping up Physical Security After Breach Affects 7,000
A burglary in November of 2018 left the IT team at Integrity House, a nonprofit in New Jersey, launching an investigation to determine what information might have been jeopardized.
They found that the breached information included names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, insurance information, and some treatment information. Integrity House IT is now addressing physical security at their facilities, as well as encrypting hard drives and strengthening password requirements.
Over 15 Million Records Breached in 2018
The 2019 Protenus Breach Barometer revealed a slight increase in reported breaches from 2017, from 477 to 503. The largest was the hack of a business associate of a North Carolina-based health system that impacted 2.65 million records. When it comes to how breaches occurred, over 2 million records were breached because of insider error and just under 400,000 were breached because of insider wrongdoing.
Verizon Report Highlights Insider Breach Threat
Verizon’s report on data breach investigations analyzed more than 53,000 cyber security incidents and found that healthcare stands out as the only industry where breaches from insiders outnumbered those from external sources. Even more reason to improve your physical security standards.
Visit our healthcare security page for information on how Senseon integrates to mitigate physical security breaches.
