One Unsecured Email Leads to Breach Notifications

CaroMont Health in Gastonia, N.C., has notified 1,310 patients that protected health information was in an unsecured email sent to a trusted source outside the organization.

Discovered in a routine security audit in August, CaroMont in a statement said there is no reason to believe the email was intercepted or received by anyone other than the intended recipient. However, the policy to encrypt emails was not followed and the organization is retraining staff.

Compromised information includes patient name, date of birth, address, telephone number, medical record number, diagnosis, medications, insurer and last date of service. Information for two patients also included their Medicare number.

A spokesperson for CaroMont did not return a telephone call asking for additional information, such as whether the organization is offering credit/ID protective services.