Arizona health department: 2.5k patients' PHI lost in mail

The Arizona Department of Health Services notified roughly 2,500 patients about a potential privacy breach, according to a May 26 news release emailed to Becker's Hospital Review.

ADHS on April 20 shipped billing documents to Midwest Medical Practice Management, a Carbondale, Ill.-based third-party billing company, via the U.S. Postal Service. The documents contained protected health information from newborn screening services, including names, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers, health insurance information and some Social Security numbers, for both mothers and children.

One of two document parcels ADHS mailed did not arrive at Midwest Medical Practice Management. The department said there is no evidence the information has been misused, although USPS has not yet located the parcel.

"USPS has no records of the parcel being misdelivered or compromised in any way," ADHS said in the news release. "In addition, there is no indication the parcel has left USPS' custody, and the department is hopeful that it will be located as USPS continues to search for the item."

The health department is working with USPS to locate the missing billing documents and prevent similar situations from happening in the future. ADHS also plans to evaluate its mailing processes for newborn screening records.

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