Details of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS)' massive data breach, which was announced last month, have gotten even worse as more than 300,000 patients are said to be involved.
Originally believed to have affected as many as 168,500 patients, the breach victimized an additional 170,200 patients, according to a report in The Los Angeles Times. That ups the total to 338,700 patients whose names were on the computers that were stolen at the location of a third-party vendor for the agency.
In February, the Torrance office of Sutherland Healthcare Solutions (SHS), a business process outsourcing firm, was broken into and multiple computers were stolen. The computers contained data that included patients' first and last names, Social Security numbers, medical and billing information, birth dates, addresses and possibly medical diagnoses.
"We take this incident very seriously and are taking the necessary precautions to protect all patient related information from theft or criminal activity. SHS and Los Angeles County are actively working with law enforcement. Los Angeles County will be notifying the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights. In addition, we are reviewing our policies and procedures and have provided additional training to our workforce. Los Angeles County is also working with us to review our information privacy and security program and determine whether enhancements should be made," The Los Angeles County Department of Health said on its website in a statement.
