Flowers Hospital Employee Steals Patients' Information

Dothan, Ala.-based Flowers Hospital has notified patients of an insider data breach that occurred when one of its employees stole forms containing patient information and possibly used the stolen information to file fraudulent income tax returns.

Flowers Hospital discovered the employee had been stealing patient forms Feb. 26, and immediately terminated the employee. Subsequently, the hospital performed an internal investigation and discovered the forms containing the patient information had been stolen from June 2013 to February 2014, according to the notification letter.

Affected patients' names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, health policy numbers, lab test information and diagnoses were contained on the stolen forms, according to the notification letter.

As a result of the theft, the hospital is offering affected patients one year of free identity protection, according to the notification letter.

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