Berkshire Medical Center reports data breach affecting 1,700 patients

Information for 1,745 Berkshire Medical Center cardiology patients was found on thumb drives belonging to a vendor employee, according to The Berkshire Eagle.

Pittsfield, Mass.-based BMC contracted with the vendor, Wilmington, Del.-based Ambucor Health Solutions, to provide remote monitoring for cardiac devices.

Earlier this year, Ambucor told BMC that an Ambucor employee emailed information on 41 BMC patients to his personal computer. Ambucor informed each of those 41 patients. But in September, Ambucor found the employee possessed two thumb drives containing information for 1,745 patients, including some of the initial 41.

Ambucor said the thumb drives contained patients' names, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers, testing data, ethnicity and identification numbers. They did not contain Social Security numbers, or financial, insurance, Medicaid and Medicare information.

Ambucor is notifying all affected patients and offering one year of identity protected services. If necessary, the company is also providing impacted patients with recovery services and $1 million identity theft insurance.

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