Lost flash drive potentially exposes 27,000 Nevada hospital patients

Reno, Nev.-based Renown Health is alerting 27,004 patients that their protected health information may have been exposed in a data breach, according to the HIPAA Journal.

An employee at Renown Health alerted officials June 30 that an unencrypted thumb drive had been lost. The employee who reported the incident was questioned. After a search, Renown Health could not locate the device.

The thumb drive stored information from patients who received inpatient services at Renown South Meadows Medical Center between Jan. 1, 2012, and June 14, 2019.

Patient data stored on the unencrypted device included names, diagnoses, medical record numbers, clinical information, dates of admission and physician names.

Since the incident, Renown Health is reviewing its policies. Employees will also undergo additional training to ensure a similar incident does not happen again.

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