Business
Providence Health System and Oregon settle privacy breach investigation
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Oct. 23, 2006
Providence Health System will pay about $95,000 to the Oregon Dept. of Justice as part of a settlement with the state after a privacy breach involving the theft of a laptop, backup tapes and discs containing personal and medical information of more than 365,000 home health patients in Oregon and Washington.
The settlement also requires the health system, which previously had committed to provide a year of free credit monitoring services to the affected patients, to pay patient claims for direct financial losses resulting from the theft of their data. So far, the state Dept. of Justice has not confirmed any cases of identity theft related to the case.
Providence Health System did not admit any wrongdoing under the settlement with Oregon State Attorney General Hardy Myers. The agreement ends a nine-month state investigation of the largest data breach ever reported in Oregon. The incident occurred at the end of December 2005 when the computer, tapes and discs containing patient data were stolen from a Providence employee's parked car in Portland, Ore.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2006/10/23/bibf1023.htm.
