UAMS Warns of Possible Patient Info Leak
By: Lisa Mendenhall
Updated: November 26, 2012
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) is notifying about 1,500 patients of a medical records breach involving a resident physician who was terminated in 2010.
In a news release, UAMS said it recently discovered that the former resident doctor kept some patient lists and notes regarding patients in violation of UAMS policy after leaving UAMS on June 3, 2010. The documents this resident kept were from January 2010 to June 2010 and contained patient names, partial addresses, medical record numbers, dates of birth, ages, locations of care, dates of service, diagnoses, medications, surgical and other procedure names, and lab results. No social security, bank account, or credit card numbers were included with this information.
The release also states that UAMS is notifying affected patients by mail and through its website. UAMS takes the privacy and security of its patients' health information very seriously.
The UAMS HIPAA Office became aware of this incident Oct. 9, 2012, when the resident produced the documents during her lawsuit against UAMS regarding her termination from a residency program. On Nov. 7, 2012, UAMS became aware that additional documents the resident kept had been provided to UAMS attorneys June 25, 2012. The records are now protected by a court order, which prevents them from becoming a public record and will prevent anyone from further using or disclosing the documents.
The resident also assured UAMS under oath that she did not share the documents with anyone except her attorneys with whom she has a Business Associate Agreement that specifically protects this information.
Patients who believe their information may have been included and have questions may CLICK HERE or call a toll-free hotline at 888-729-2755.
