Sutter Health East Bay Region is notifying patients of a breach they first learned about on May 23.
According to their letter, a copy of which was provided to the California Attorney General’s Office, on May 23, they were notified by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office that patient information had been discovered as part of an investigation. The information included patients’ names, date of birth, Social Security number, address and zip code, gender, marital status, home and work phone numbers, and place of employment.
As of this week, Sutter was unsure which facilities the patient data had been stolen from or how. Nor do they indicate whether these were copies of actual patient records and if the information was in electronic or paper format.
Affected patients were offered free credit monitoring, and given the types of information involved and the fact that it showed up in the context of a criminal investigation, I’d say that patients should definitely avail themselves of the offer and remain vigilant in checking and protecting their credit.
The Sutter Health East Bay Region covers Alameda and Contra Costa counties with three medical centers – Alta Bates Summit, Eden and Sutter Delta- spread across six campuses, plus a medical foundation of physicians at care centers located throughout the East Bay Region.
Sutter has been named in a number of high-profile breaches and is still facing a class action lawsuit stemming from this large breach.
UPDATE: KTVU has more on the new breach:
The personal information of nearly 5,000 patients at three Bay Area hospitals may have been stolen and authorities only found out about because of a drug bust in Oakland almost a month ago.
Sutter Health East Bay region notified the public Friday that 4,500 patients had personal information taken from the hospital.
The information which isn’t medical may include Social Security number, employer, address and birth date.
Read more on KTVU. A statement on Sutter’s site says:
Law Enforcement Finds List of East Bay Patients
Posted on Jun 7, 2013
The Alameda County Sheriff’s Department recently notified one of Sutter Health’s hospitals in the East Bay that during an unrelated investigation it recovered information pertaining to approximately 4,500 people.
We do not know what law enforcement was investigating when they obtained this information. The information may have originated from Sutter Health’s Alta Bates Summit, Sutter Delta or Eden medical centers, and may have included a patient’s name, Social Security number, date of birth, gender, address, zip code, home phone number, marital status, name of employer and work phone number.
While it is presently unclear where the information originated, we have notified the patients whose information was potentially involved and are offering them free credit monitoring services. We have also alerted the appropriate government agencies.
We are concerned about this matter and take protecting our patients’ privacy very seriously. At this time we do not know how the information was obtained. We continue to cooperate with law enforcement to investigate this incident.
If you are a patient and think you have been affected, please call 1-888-414-8020, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time. When prompted, enter the following ten digit reference number: 2789053113.