FHN Memorial Hospital Data Breach (2015)

A computer hard drive containing patient information was stolen from FHN Memorial Hospital in December. The hard drive did not contain medical records, but did have internal reports and spreadsheets with patient data, according to a FHN news release. The files may have included a patient's name, Social Security number, contact information, birthday, ethnicity, medical record number, patient ID numbers, unique patient encounter number, date of service and description of the procedure, type of examination and diagnoses, name of physician, insurance provider, medication information and date of discharge. The hospital has notified patients whose information may have been stolen, and advised them how to take steps to protect themselves. The hospital's security professionals, along with an outside consulting firm, are working to implement new security measures, including better network monitoring and adding computer encryption procedures to devices stored in secure areas. The hospital also has placed an internal audit on the affected medical records to increase monitoring. The hard drive was taken from a hospital employee's private office in a secure area. An investigation by law enforcement is ongoing, according to the news release.