Cancer Care Northwest

A workforce member of the covered entity (CE), Cancer Care Northwest, lost a paper binder containing protected health information (PHI). The binder was likely thrown away with the garbage when it was not properly safeguarded in an otherwise secure office. Approximately 1,426 individuals were affected by this breach. The PHI included names, dates of birth, diagnoses/conditions and other treatment information. To prevent a similar breach from happening in the future, the CE instructed the work force member to only take notes electronically and retrained the workforce member on its HIPAA policies. The CE provided breach notification to HHS, affected individuals, and the media, and offered identity theft and fraud protection services to affected individuals. OCR obtained assurances that the CE implemented these corrective actions.