The university on March 6 notified law enforcement that an external hard drive was stolen from an office in LSU Health New Orleans’ department of neurology research. The hard drive, which stored patient lists for research projects, contained names, birth dates, diagnoses and treatment codes of patients seen between 1998 and 2009, according to WDSU News.
While an individual linked to the theft was reportedly arrested, officials are unsure whether data has been accessed or misused, and the hard drive has not been located.
School officials said LSU requires users to protect patient health information through a few avenues, such as mobile device encryption. However, this policy was not followed by the hard drive’s users, leading the school to take “remedial action,” according to WDSU News.
LSU is updating its security policies and offering one year of credit monitoring services to affected patients.
Editor’s note: Becker’s Hospital Review reached out to LSU Health New Orleans for comment and will update as more information is available.
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