KY: UK HealthCare warns 1,079 patients after laptop with their info stolen from Talyst employee

UK HealthCare is notifying 1,079 patients regarding a breach of protected health information. Talyst, a UK HealthCare vendor that provides pharmacy billing management services, reported a password protected laptop was stolen on February 4, 2014. This vendor’s employee had access to protected health information that may have included name, date of birth, medical records number, diagnosis, medications, laboratory results, progress notes, allergies, height and weight, date of service, physician name and clinic. In some cases, name of insurance carrier and insurance identification number may have been on the stolen laptop. Our investigation indicated that no other personal information, such as Social Security number, credit card, debit card or bank account number was contained on the stolen laptop.

UK HealthCare and Talyst deeply regret any inconvenience this causes. UK HealthCare and Talyst have policies and procedures in place and are committed to safeguard the privacy of all patients.

We have no evidence your information was misused. The following steps are recommended by the Federal Trade Commission to prevent any possible misuse of personal information:

Stay alert for the signs of identity theft, such as:
• Accounts you did not open and debts on your accounts that you cannot explain.
• Fraudulent or inaccurate information on your credit reports, including accounts and personal information, such as your social security number, address(es), name or initials, and employers.
• Failing to receive bills or other mail. Follow up with creditors if your bills don’t arrive on time.
• Receiving credit cards that you didn’t apply for.
• Being denied credit or being offered less favorable credit terms, such as a high interest rate, for no apparent reason.
• Getting calls or letters from debt collectors or businesses about merchandise or services you didn’t buy.

Order your free annual credit report by:
• Visiting www.annualcreditreport.com, or;
• Calling toll-free 877-322-8228, or;
• Completing the Annual Credit Report Request Form and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. You can print the form from:www.annualcreditreport.com

We also recommend that you regularly review the explanation of benefits statement that you receive from your health insurer. Please immediately contact your health insurer if you identify services listed on your explanation of benefits that you did not receive.

If you would like additional information, have questions or comments, call Monday through Friday toll-free at 877-528-3970 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Local residents may call 859-323-6044. You may also e-mail your questions or comments to [email protected].