NYU Hospitals Center

The covered entity (CE) misplaced an unencrypted USB drive that contained the electronic protected health information (ePHI) of 2,563 individuals. The ePHI included names, medical record numbers, ages, genders, procedures, attending physicians' names, anesthesiologists' names, types of anesthesia, times of arrival in the recovery room, and times of discharge. Upon discovery of the breach, the CE reported the incident to internal security as a possible theft and conducted a thorough search of the perimeter. The CE provided breach notification to HHS, the media, and affected individuals. As a result of OCR's investigation, the CE stopped using USB drives and local desktop computers for data storage. In addition, the CE updated physical security in the recovery room and installed data prevention software to monitor, block or encrypt mobile media used in the CE. Further, the CE purchased encrypted USB drives for workforce members with an identified need to download and store ePHI. The CE also revised its mobile device and portable storage media policy and retrained all workforce members on its policies.