Glasgow Daily Times, Glasgow, KY

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April 28, 2010

The Medical Center has security breach

By GINA KINSLOW Glasgow Daily Times

BOWLING GREEN — The Medical Center at Bowling Green is notifying 5,418 patients whose medical information may have been breached when a computer hard drive was stolen.

The computer hard drive was taken from the hospital’s mammography suite and contained information from patients who underwent bone density testing between 1997 and 2009.

Hospital officials learned the hard drive was missing on April 1.

“Upon learning that it was missing, we immediately conducted a comprehensive investigation internally. When it appeared it was a criminal matter, we reported it to the Bowling Green Police,” said Doris Thomas, vice president.

Barry Pruitt, spokesperson for the Bowling Green Police Department, said the matter has been turned over to the criminal investigation’s department.

The Bowling Green Police Department was notified of the theft on April 18. Pruitt could not comment on whether there were any suspects in the case. 

The hard drive contained documents with the patients’ names, date of births, addresses, medical record numbers and physician names.

“Some of them also contained Social Security numbers,” Thomas said, adding the hard drive did not feature any clinical information, images or test results.

The information on the hard drive was not encrypted. It was maintained in a locked, non-public, private area, Thomas said in a press release.

In addition to notifying patients via letter, the hospital has also set up a toll-free number for patients living outside Warren County and a local number for patients living in the immediate area for patients to call if they needed additional information about the breach who are affected by the breach.

Since the theft occurred, hospital officials have taken steps to strengthen the security of patient information and that includes linking to a secure network eliminating the need for computer hard drives, such as the one that was stolen, Thomas said.

The toll free number is (877) 338-8525, and the local number is (270) 796-2100.

“We regret the incident, and we are committed to prevent future such occurrences. However, affected patients are strongly encouraged to take the following steps recommended by the Federal Trade Commission to prevent any possible misuse of personal information,” she said in the press release.

Those recommendations by the FCC include the following: monitoring accounts and bank accounts each month and check credit reports on a regular basis; stay alert for the signs of identify theft, such as new accounts that cannot be explained; fraudulent or inaccurate information on credit reports, including accounts and personal information, like Social Security numbers, addresses, name or initials and employers; failing to receive bills or other mail; receiving credit cards that were not applied for; being denied credit or being offered less favorable credit terms, like a high interest rate, for no apparent reason; and getting calls or letters from debt collectors or businesses about the unauthorized purchase of merchandise or services.

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