Archive for 2011

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Physician’s computers were stolen

Five computers containing medical and personal information of more than 3,000 patients were stolen from a Stone Oak physician’s office in October.

Dr. Sudhir Gogu of the Stone Oak Urgent Care Family Practice said the computers were stolen after an office door had been pried open sometime during the weekend of Oct. 22-23, according to the police report.

A San Antonio Police Department spokesman said in an email Wednesday that the computers have not been recovered and there have been no arrests.

On Dec. 5, six weeks after the break-in, Gogu sent letters to patients informing them that their names, Social Security numbers, birthdates, account numbers, disability codes and diagnoses were kept on the stolen computers.

Gogu’s office directed calls from a reporter to attorney Celeste Lira, who couldn’t be reached for comment. Lira said in an interview with StoneOakInfo.com on Dec. 15 that, as of that date, patients’ information had not been misused.

Stone Oak Urgent Care notified the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as required. The agency’s website shows that 3,079 patients were affected by the data breach.

Lira told StoneOakInfo.com that Stone Oak Urgent Care has complied with all federal regulations. Federal law requires that entities “notify prominent media outlets” within 60 days in cases where the data breach affects more than 500 people. However, it’s unclear if the practice did so.

In his letter, Gogu told his patients they might want to place a fraud alert on their credit report. A lender should then verify any requests to open a new credit account.

Gogu also recommended patients monitor their credit reports.

Patient privacy experts said that entities affected by data breaches should offer patients credit monitoring services and medical identity monitoring services. It couldn’t be determined whether Stone Oak Urgent Care made such offers.

Medical identity theft involves someone obtaining health care under another person’s name.

“The danger of medical identity theft is that the thief can use your identity to get medical care and a record is created with the imposter’s medical information that could be mistaken for yours,” said Lisa Schifferle, a spokeswoman for the Federal Trade Commission. “The consequences can be quite severe.”

Dr. Deborah Peel, founder and chairman of Patient Privacy Rights, an organization focused on putting people in control of their electronic health information, called medical identity theft a dangerous crime.

“It typically costs the average victim at least $20,000, and health plans typically increase your premiums … or may even cancel your coverage,” Peel said.

Peel criticized the health industry for failing to taken data protection seriously.

“It’s estimated that 80 percent of hospitals don’t encrypt data,” she said. “Can you imagine if your banks didn’t encrypt and keep your financial information secure? We wouldn’t even let them be banks.”

A report released this month, the 2011 Benchmark Study on Patient Privacy and Data Security, estimated that data breaches could be costing the U.S. health care industry about $6.5 billion.

Data breaches increased 32 percent over a year ago, according to the study by the Ponemon Institute in Michigan. Nearly half of respondents cited lost or stolen computing devices as the reason for the data breach incidents.

“Healthcare data breaches are epidemic,” Ponemon Institute Chairman and Founder Dr. Larry Ponemon said in a statement. “These problems are a direct result of our national economy. Healthcare organizations — especially not-for-profit hospitals and small clinics — have thin margins, are trimming staff and resources, and are lacking sufficient security and privacy budgets needed to adequately protect patients.”

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