Cogent Healthcare

A laptop was stolen from a locked office at the Aurora St. Lukes Medical Center. The laptop contained protected health information pertaining to 6,400 individuals. The information included patient names, dates of birth, social security numbers, medical record numbers, and in some cases diagnosis codes. In response to the theft, the hospital implemented several corrective action measures, including accelerated efforts to encrypt all laptop hard drives, improved physical locks on the office where the theft occurred, staff training regarding the appropriate use and storage of devices containing ePHI, and encryption of portable flash drives and Blackberry devices.