By ALICE SPERI
Some 1.7 million patients, staff members, contractors and vendors had their medical and other personal records from city hospitals in the Bronx stolen, the city’s Health and Hospitals Corporation said Friday. The affected hospitals were Jacobi Medical Center, North Central Bronx Hospital and two affiliated clinics. The “overwhelming majority” of those who had their data stolen were patients, the agency said.
The theft of electronic files, which contained both patient health records and medical information about workers — with names, addresses and Social Security numbers — occurred on Dec. 23, when an information-management company’s van was left unlocked and unattended in Manhattan, the hospitals corporation said.
On Wednesday, the agency started mailing notification letters to the victims, in 17 languages, announcing an information hot line and customer care centers at both hospitals, and offering free credit monitoring and fraud resolution services for one year. Those interested in the offer have 120 days to register. The notification text is also available online.
The hospitals corporation said it had taken “decisive steps to protect the individuals who are potentially affected,” even though there is no evidence the information, contained on computer backup tapes that were being delivered to “a secure storage location,” has been accessed or misused. It also said that the data is stored in a program “that would make it difficult for someone without technical knowledge to access the private information.”
The hospitals corporation has filed suit to hold the vendor, GRM Information Management Services, responsible for covering all damages related to the loss of the data.
Fuente: The New York Times
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