Computers with up to 168,500 L.A. County patients' personal data are stolen
Source: Los Angeles Times
Personal data of as many as 168,500 patients of Los Angeles County medical facilities may have been stolen in a break-in at a county contractor's office last month.
A Torrance office of Sutherland Healthcare Solutions, which handles billing and collections for the county's Department of Health Services and Department of Public Health, was burglarized Feb. 5 and computer equipment was stolen, according to a county statement issued Thursday.
The computers contained data including patients' first and last names, Social Security numbers and certain medical and billing information, and they may also have included birth dates, addresses and diagnoses.
"I'm not aware of another breach of this significance ever having occurred," said L.A. County Assistant Auditor-Controller Robert Campbell. The auditor-controller's office oversees the county's compliance with federal medical privacy regulations.
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-patient-data-stolen-20140307,0,1463656.story