The University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson and the Mississippi State Department of Health are notifying roughly 1,500 research participants of a personal health information data breach, according to a UMMC news release.
On Oct. 31, a UMMC employee reported that a laptop that contained the information for the research studies was stolen from a clinic, according to the news release.
The laptop contained password-protected databases of information. The first database included medical record numbers, age, sex, race, zip code and blinded lab results of 1,400 people. UMMC officials considered the possibility of patients in that database being identified as "extremely low" based on how the information was categorized, according to the release. A smaller database within the laptop included "sensitive" protected health information of roughly 75 UMMC patients, who are being contacted directly by UMMC officials.
UMMC has not been able to recover the stolen laptop.
On Oct. 31, a UMMC employee reported that a laptop that contained the information for the research studies was stolen from a clinic, according to the news release.
The laptop contained password-protected databases of information. The first database included medical record numbers, age, sex, race, zip code and blinded lab results of 1,400 people. UMMC officials considered the possibility of patients in that database being identified as "extremely low" based on how the information was categorized, according to the release. A smaller database within the laptop included "sensitive" protected health information of roughly 75 UMMC patients, who are being contacted directly by UMMC officials.
UMMC has not been able to recover the stolen laptop.
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