Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston has agreed to settle a previous data breach for $100,000, according to a Boston Globe report.
In 2012, a laptop containing protected health information, including Social Security numbers, of 3,796 patients and hospital employees was stolen from a physician's desk, resulting in a data breach and a lawsuit filed by the state of Massachusetts.
The settlement will resolve the Massachusetts attorney general office's complaint that the hospital's lax data security and failure to encrypt patient data was against the law.
John Halamka, MD, CIO of BIDMC said in the report that the hospital has implemented stricter security measures and procedures.
"After this incident, we worked closely with the federal and state governments, as well as security industry experts to ensure that [the hospital] adopts state-of-the-art security policies and technologies," Dr. Halamka said.
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