On Dec. 8, a burglar broke into Wichita, Kan.-based Family Medicine East and stole a printer and a desktop computer, the latter of which contained typed office notes about patients who visited the clinic between 2002 and 2003. The information included patients’ names, dates of birth, the names or initials of physicians who saw the patient and some patients’ diagnoses. Some files on the computer included patient referrals.
Family Medicine East said the notes don’t include patients’ Social Security numbers or addresses.
The clinic sent letters to affected patients Feb. 3, according to KWCH. Family Medicine East will offer free credit monitoring services to affected patients. It has not recovered the computer.
“The files remained on the computer that was stolen as a result of an employee’s oversight, and were not detected during a number of risk analyses undertaken prior to the theft, as part of efforts to secure all individually identifiable health information,” a release from Family Medicine East said.
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