Ascension's Nashville, Tenn.-based Saint Thomas Health notified 2,859 patients of a privacy breach at Murfreesboro, Tenn.-based Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital.
The health system discovered the breach in April after hospital documents were found on a rural road in Tennessee. The documents contained a subset of patient census reports or logs from 2009 and 2010. The documents contained patient names, dates of birth, admitting diagnosis, account numbers and physician names. The documents did not contain medical records or Social Security numbers.
Saint Thomas Health officials have not determined who is responsible for the privacy breach. The health system has contracted with a vendor to ensure all future files are secured and accounted for until destruction. Officials have also established a dedicated call line to answer patient questions.
"Once we were made aware of this breach, we immediately investigated the incident to ensure that no further disclosures were made," Cynthia Figaro, corporate responsibility officer and corporate privacy officer at Saint Thomas Health, said in a news release emailed to Becker's Hospital Review. "Based on our investigation, we do not believe that there is a financial risk to our patients."