Employee shares urology patient info with competitor
By Megan Boehnke, The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tenn. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
The information taken from
The employee at University Urology, located near the
The breach is a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, commonly referred to as HIPAA.
Although University Urology is contacting affected patients by mail, federal law requires the practice to publicly announce the breach.
Calls to University Urology were not immediately returned Friday afternoon, and an attorney with Hodges, Doughty & Carson declined to comment beyond the release.
"We understand that any breach of protected health information is a concern for our patients. We sincerely regret this situation occurred," said Peggy Kares,the HIPAA security officer at University Urology.
The practice first discovered the leak when staff began receiving calls
University Urology has fired the employee, changed network passwords and reached an agreement with the other provider to destroy all names, addresses and patient information.
It also stopped allowing administration staff to access patient information and re-trained current employees on patient privacy, according to the public statement.
Though it does not appear identity theft was the motive for the breach, the practice is encouraging all patients to monitor their credit cards, bank statements and other financial information.
Patients seeking information can go to www.urologypc.net or contact Kares at 865-305-5329 or toll free at 800-776-7623.
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