Minneapolis-based Allina Health has informed patients of Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital of a privacy incident.
On Jan. 20, Allina Health learned paper documents from a recycling bin in a physician's office were thrown into the trash before the physician could shred them. After an investigation, Allina Health said it believes a janitor likely emptied the recycling bin into a trash bag and threw the trash bag into a dumpster.
The paper documents in question might have included patients' names, dates of birth, addresses, clinical information, medical record numbers and insurance information (including Social Security numbers for patients who use the same Social Security number and health insurance identification number).
Allina Health has sent letters to patients who had appointments with the physician or were part of the physician's group's hospital service between April 17, 2016 and Jan. 17, 2017. Additionally, Allina is offering potentially impacted patients one year of free credit monitoring services.
Allina said there is "no indication that patient information was misused in any way" and that "the risk is very low that any unauthorized person saw or used the information inappropriately."