Northfield (Minn.) Hospital & Clinics is notifying approximately 1,700 patients that their protected health information may be compromised after documents containing their information were placed in a commercial dumpster.
The documents were intended to be discarded but were insecurely placed with other refuse in the dumpster. The documents may have included patient names, account numbers, birth dates, addresses, types of treatment, insurance information, medical information and some credit card information.
Hospital officials are "confident" the documents containing PHI went directly to a secured landfill.
The hospital is implementing steps "to further improve the security of operations and eliminate future risk," including renewing staff education and installing centralized confidential waste containers, according to a hospital statement.
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