St. Anthony's Physician Organization

St. Anthony’s Physician Organization, the covered entity (CE), reported that a laptop computer and flash drive were stolen from an employee’s locked vehicle trunk while parked in another healthcare facility. The laptop was encrypted and password protected, but the flash drive was not. The breach affected approximately 2,600 individuals and the types of protected health information (PHI) involved in the breach included dates of birth, names, diagnoses/conditions, lab results, and medications. The CE provided breach notification to HHS, affected individuals, and the media. Following the breach, the CE retrained employees. As a result of OCR’s investigation, the CE implemented HIPAA Security Rule training and updated several Privacy and Security Rule policies and procedures. Specifically, to prevent a similar breach, the CE eliminated the need for flash drives, implemented encryption, and created a mobile media policy which addresses how devices are to be securely stored and requires encryption of electronic devices that contain electronic PHI. OCR obtained documented assurances that the CE implemented the corrective actions noted above.