MISSOURI COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM HOSPITALThe Joplin Globe - Online EditionSt. John's Regional Medical Center has begun informing more than 27,000 patients of the theft of hospital records with personal information about them.

St. John's began sending out letters Wednesday to inform patients that a microfilming company under contract with St. John's to convert paper medical records to microfilm for storage purposes was the victim of a burglary July 7.

Two computers containing the hospital's index information on patients seen at the hospital between 2002 and 2004 were stolen in the burglary, according to Bre LaFerla, the media promotions coordinator for St. John's.

LaFerla said the information stored in the computers included the names, dates of birth, admission and discharge dates, medical record numbers, and account numbers of patients from those years. It did not include any other personal information such as medical records, health information or Social Security numbers, she said.

LaFerla said it is doubtful the information stolen could be used to accomplish any identity theft that might harm anyone affected.

"We just want to be on the safe side and inform our patients about the crime," she said.

The microfilming company involved, Casey Associates, 4500 E. Seventh St., Suite C, informed the hospital about the stolen computers the week following the burglary, LaFerla said.

According to the letter being sent to St. John's patients from CEO and president Gary Rowe, the hospital since has discontinued its use of Casey Associates for the microfilming service, has secured and removed all hospital documents and property from the business, and is making arrangements for another service to take over its historical indexing services.

Casey Associates had closed for business by the time the Globe received a copy of Rowe's letter Friday afternoon and could not be reached for comment on the matter.

Rowe's letter states that St. John's was not doing anything other hospitals throughout the country do not do in contracting with an outside company to transfer its paper records to microfilm.

The letter reads in part: "St. John's feels strongly about the protection and security of this sensitive information, and we are working to change our procedures to reduce the risk of this type of situation from occurring again. With the help of our new Advanced Clinical Information System, we will be tracking our patient's medical records electronically without the need to use outside microfilming services. The information entered into our computer system will stay in our secured facility."

LaFerla said the hospital began mailing Rowe's letter to patients Wednesday. By Friday, they'd mailed about 20,000 letters and anticipate mailing another 7,000 or more.

She said some people already have received the letters, and the hospital had fielded about 180 calls from patients wanting to know more about what they mean.

She said the hospital has been assuring patients that no Social Security or credit information that could be used for fraudulent transactions or identity theft was involved.

Rowe's letter encourages patients affected to seek more information about identity theft at the Federal Trade Commission's consumer Web site www.consumer.gov/theft or to call the FTC's theft hot line at 1 (877) ID-THEFT.