Breach blues for British Columbia lab

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/breach-blues-british-columbia-lab

By Erin McCann
Associate Editor
Health IT News
June 26, 2013

Canadian-based LifeLabs Medical Laboratory Services has notified more than 
16,000 patients in Kamloops, B.C., that their protected health information 
has been compromised after a computer hard drive containing patient data 
went missing.

According to a company notification, the computer hard drive contained 
patients' names, addresses, dates of birth, personal health numbers, 
genders, results of ECG tests and their referring physicians. Officials 
say the hard drive went missing in January and has been missing since. 
Following an internal investigation, the company has been unable to 
determine the whereabouts of the hard drive or exactly when the hard drive 
was removed.

Notification letters to 16,100 patients were mailed June 21, officials 
say. LifeLabs has also informed the B.C. Ministry of Health and the Office 
of the Information and Privacy Commissioner.

“I am deeply sorry for the concerns or difficulties this situation creates 
for our patients, our employees, health professionals and the Kamloops 
community,” said Sue Paish, president and CEO of LifeLabs, in a June 24 
press statement. “LifeLabs manages more than 50 million patient records a 
year. We understand the importance of personal information, and we know 
that the protection of personal information is extremely important to all 
of our patients.”

[...]

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