Officials from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Broward Health Imperial Point have alerted 126 former patients or next of kin of a privacy breach, which reportedly took place between November 2011 and March 2012, according to the Miami Herald.
Doris Peek, senior vice president and chief information officer at Broward Health, told the Miami Herald that police officers discovered the stolen patient information when responding to a domestic violence report. The police officers removed these documents, known as "Facesheets," from the individual's home and turned them over to the hospital's security department. Ms. Peek told the Miami Herald that the identity thieves acquired the patient information documents by paying hospital registrars.
The Facesheets included patient names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, primary insurance providers, insurance guarantors, reasons for visit and next of kin information. Broward Health has offered the 126 patients an identity theft protection service at no cost.