EVERETT – Two laptop computers containing the medical records of 122 patients were stolen last week from the cars of Providence Hospice and Home Care workers in Snohomish County.
The records included patient names, addresses, Social Security numbers and some medical notes, said Greg Van Pelt, a senior vice president for Providence Health &Services. That’s the parent organization of Providence Everett Medical Center and its affiliated businesses, including the local hospice and home care service.
Ninety-seven of the files contained information about hospice patients, and 25 files had information on people receiving home care.
“It’s a tragedy; we feel very badly about it,” said Gail Larson, chief executive of Providence Everett Medical Center.
So far, there’s no indication that anyone has attempted to steal the identifies of any of the patients, she said.
A team of 15 people have been assigned to call patients whose files were on the computers. Contacts have been made in 93 of the cases, meaning either the patient or a family member has been called.
Eight people were visited in person on Tuesday and two more, who need translators, will be visited today, said Teresa Wenta, a hospital spokeswoman.
Kroll Inc., an international consulting company, will assist patients concerned about identify theft, Larsen said. Each patient must fill out a form to allow the company to monitor credit transactions and to guard against identify theft.
Special hotlines have been set up for hospice and home care patients to call for help.
The patients include family members being treated at home for health problems or hospice patients nearing the end of life, Larsen said.
“There is so much for these families to be concerned about,” Larsen said. “We’re doing everything we possibly can to reassure them so they don’t have the worry of information theft on their minds.”
When asked how much the response to the stolen patient files was costing, she said, “It doesn’t make any difference what it costs. We’ll be doing it right.”
The hospice service typically helps care for up to 250 patients, and home care services has a caseload of about 400 patients.
The hospice and home care service have 120 laptops. Encryption software was installed on the laptops over the weekend to help prevent anyone without proper authorization from viewing patient files, Larsen said.
The thefts occurred despite policies designed to prevent the loss of laptops. The policies required employees to keep the laptops either with them or in a secure place at all times, Larsen said.
The first laptop theft occurred Feb. 27; it had files on 97 hospice patients. The second theft was March 3; it had the records of 25 home care patients. Both were taken from parked vehicles, one in the Lynnwood area and one in south Everett.
These thefts have triggered a reinvestigation of two previously undisclosed thefts of laptops with patient files. One, in September, contained records on eight hospice patients. The other, in December, contained the records of 14 home care patients, Wenta said.
A far more massive loss of 365,000 patient records occurred in December at Providence Home Services in Oregon, an affiliated organization. That occurred when computer backup disks and tapes were stolen from an employee’s car.
The parent organization is investigating whether there are any ties between the two events, or were simply random thefts. “This seems to be coincidental,” Van Pelt said.
Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
What’s being done
* Every patient with a file on the stolen computers is being called and sent a letter encouraging them to put fraud alerts on their files at one of the three major credit bureaus.
* Free identity and credit restoration and monitoring services are being provided.
* Two toll-free hotlines have been set up. Patients notified that their files were on one of the stolen laptops can call 866-347-8171. Anyone unsure if they are a victim of the thefts can call 888-284-8997.
Source: Providence Hospice and Home Care of Snohomish County
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
