OHIO COMPUTER STOLEN CONTAINED GEISINGER HEALTH SYSTEMS PATIENTS DATA The Daily Item - Computer with data about 25,000 Geisinger patients stolen:

Computer with data about 25,000 Geisinger patients stolen

By Rob Scott
The Daily Item
December 13, 2006

MAHONING TOWNSHIP — A computer containing data on 25,000 patients of Geisinger Health System was stolen from an office building in Cincinnati, Ohio, Thanksgiving night.

The building was occupied by various businesses, several of which were also victimized, including Electronic Registry Systems, a company that manages a patient registry database for Geisinger.

According to a release from ERS, someone broke into the building around 11 p.m. and stole several office items, including the computer.

Geisinger spokesperson Justin Walden said the data on the computer pertained to a “select group of patients” with information dating back to approximately 1980, though he would not be more specific. The data included names, addresses, medical record numbers and social security numbers.

“It was just a lot of office stuff stolen,” he said. “It was nothing to suggest that the people were going specifically after this data.”

The information on the computer was double password and log-in protected, according to a release from Geisinger.

“There were multiple protections on the computer to help secure the data and we believe it is unlikely that the information can be retrieved from the stolen equipment,” Bruce Hamory, Geisinger executive vice president and chief medical officer, said in a statement released yesterday. “However, Geisinger is taking every precaution to assist our affected patients with identity theft protection.”

The health system has contracted with a member company of AIG to provide identity theft protection to individuals whose personal information was on the computer.

The coverage includes expense reimbursement and restoration services. Expense reimbursement covers loss of wages, re-filing costs and certain legal expenses up to $25,000, the release stated. Restoration services assigns a caseworker to an identity theft victim to assist with filing an affidavit with the Federal Trade Commission, notify affected creditors and help construct a personalized correction action plan for any financial issues.

Mr. Walden said affected patients are being notified this week.
Mary Jo Lane, a spokesperson for ERS, said if and when the computer is recovered, the company will hire experts in computer forensics to determine whether any data was accessed.
She said the police have not made any arrests at this point and she didn’t know of any suspects in their investigation.
n E-mail comments to rscott@thedanvillenews.com.