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Saint Francis Hospital Announces Privacy Breach

HARTFORD — Saint Francis Hospital announced Friday that paper records containing protected medical information of more than 800 patients were stolen almost a mo...
francis hospital

HARTFORD — Saint Francis Hospital announced Friday that paper records containing protected medical information of more than 800 patients were stolen almost a month ago, compromising the patients’ privacy.

The theft occurred on Dec. 27, when paper records were stolen from the vehicle of an independent contractor physician who works in the emergency department, the hospital said.

The records contained information on 858 patients, the hospital said.

The records did not contain social security numbers, financial information or adresses, the hospital said. They did, however, contain patients’ names, dates of birth and medical record numbers.

According to the hospital, there have not yet been any attempts to gain inappropriate access to these patients’ information.

“Our goal has always been to help ensure adequate safeguards are in place to protect our patients’ confidentiality,” Dr. John Rodis, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Saint Francis said in a statement. “Education of our staff has already been completed and we are evaluating other opportunities to strengthen our compliance program.”

The hospital has added internal information safeguards and offered credit monitoring to the 858 patients. Saint Francis also has staff available for patients to call with any questions related to this privacy breach, the hospital said. Patients may call 1-866-328-1993 from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm, Monday through Friday.

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