A laptop and paper files were stolen last week from Houston Methodist Hospital, compromising the personal and health information of 1,300 patients.
The information on the encrypted laptop and in the paper files included patients' names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth and medical information. Local law enforcement and HHS have been notified of the theft and resulting data breach, according to a Houston Chronicle report. Credit monitoring services have been offered to affected patients.
"At Methodist we take a patient's right to privacy very seriously — we diligently handle and protect thousands of patient records every day and we have a variety of safeguards to protect patient information. We deeply regret this incident occurred and are taking additional measures to protect and assist our patients," said hospital officials in a statement obtained by KHOU.
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