Front Range Dermatology Associates suffers a breach of medical records

March 08--Front Range Dermatology Associates, which has locations in Greeley, Loveland Fort Collins and Fort Morgan, suffered a breach of patient records in January, the company announced in a news release on Wednesday.

The compromised data includes patients' names, medical record numbers, dates of service, billing codes, names of insurance companies and dates and amounts of payments. No social security numbers, addresses, dates of birth, insurance ID numbers, credit or debit card numbers or any bank account information was compromised, according to the release.

The breach occurred when a Front Range employee gave the data to a former employee. The employee who leaked the data was fired immediately. The breach occurred and was discovered on Jan. 12.

Front Range officials believe the former employee obtained the data to attempt to confirm compensation owed to the former employee or for future contact with patients.

The breach involved information from a six-month cost report for patients seen by the former employee and for whom Front Range Dermatology received payments within the six-month time frame. Those patients who were affected were notified in a letter from Front Range Dermatology, which went in the mail on Wednesday.

Even though no social security data was leaked and officials do not suspect identity theft, Front Range clients who may have been affected are encouraged to monitor their bank and insurance statements, the release stated. Front Range has partnered with a data breach services company called Epiq to give its clients who were affected a year of free credit monitoring. Front Range clients who want to set that up or wonder whether they have been affected can call 1-877-553-7039.

-- Tommy Wood covers education and Evans city government for The Tribune. You can reach him at (970) 392-4470, [email protected] or on Twitter @woodstein72.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect a correction. An earlier version contained incomplete information and inaccurately depicted the type of information contained in the data breach.

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