The computer printouts included names, addresses, phone numbers and medical records numbers for about 30,000 patients, but no medical information.
The California Department of Public Health is investigating whether the incident violates state and federal laws. Officials were not immediately available for comment.
The breached information appears to require notification to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights. The office publicly lists all breaches of protected health information--which includes names, addresses and medical records numbers, among other information--on a publicly accessible Web site, available here. The janitor was arrested on Sept. 10 and the breach presently is not on the HHS Web site. To access the Times story, click here.
Health Data Management's Health IT Summit, Nov. 14-16 in Chicago, will include an educational session track on data breach issues. More information is available at healthdatamanagement.com/conferences/hdm/.
--Joseph Goedert
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