Portland, Ore.-based Southeast Health Center began notifying about 700 patients Sept. 14 that their personal information was recently exposed during a break-in at the facility.
On Aug. 4, while the clinic was closed for construction, someone broke through a wall on the construction site to enter the building. During the break-in, the individual accessed file cabinets, which contained patients' paper records, the health center said.
The file cabinets comprised applications for the Oregon Health Plan, which included the following information of the 700 individuals: names, birthdates, Social Security numbers, addresses, birth certificates, tax statements and passport and driver's license information, among other things.
The Southeast Health Center said it was secured at the time of the break-in, but the file cabinets inside the clinic were unlocked. The clinic now is reviewing its records storage policies and has moved the file cabinets to a more secure location, it said in the online notice.
Multnomah County, which manages the Southeast Health Center, is offering affected patients one year of free identity protection services.