New Mexico Department of Health Data Breach (2015)

On October 4, 2015 a Department of Health employee's laptop was stolen from the employee's personal vehicle during an auto burglary at St. Joseph on the Rio Grande Church, 5901 St. Joseph's Dr. NW, Albuquerque, NM, 87120. It was one of several auto burglaries in the church parking lot that day. The employee notified Albuquerque Police and a police report was filed. The Department of Health is working with law enforcement, but at this time, the laptop has not been recovered. The laptop contained Protected Health Information (PHI), including patients first and last names, date of birth, facility unit, medications and in some cases patient's diagnosis. The laptop and certain files were password protected. The Department of Health has no evidence indicating that any individual's protected health information has been accessed or utilized. The Department of Health determined that the laptop contained information for certain patients at New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute in Las Vegas, New Mexico between June of 1997 and September of 2013, and patients at Sequoyah Adolescent Treatment Center in Albuquerque between 2013 and 2015. The Department has notified individuals impacted in writing and has set up a year's worth of no cost credit monitoring. The Department of Health has established a call center with ID Experts to answer questions and help the affected individuals enroll in the no-cost credit monitoring.