The Michigan Department of Community Health has issued a notice of a data breach that occurred when a laptop and flash drive containing 2,595 patients' personal and health information were stolen from an employee of the Michigan Long Term Care Ombudsman's Office.
The laptop and flash drive were stolen the evening of Jan. 30 or early morning Jan. 31 and MDCH became aware of the breach Feb. 3. The information contained on the laptop was encrypted; however, the data on the flash drive was not.
The flash drive contained patients' names, addresses and dates of birth. The flash drive also contained the Social Security number or Medicaid identification number of 1,539 patients.
"MDCH takes any potential breach of security with the utmost seriousness and sincerely regrets that this breach occurred," said Nick Lyon, chief deputy director of MDCH, in a news release. "We are working swiftly to notify any individuals who may have been impacted and with staff to tighten our security procedures going forward."
MDCH is working with the LTC Ombudsman's Office to offer free credit monitoring services to patients whose Social Security number or Medicaid identification number were compromised.
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