North East Medical Services Data Breach (2015)

A HIPAA breach has been reported by North East Medical Services. The Protected Health Information of almost 70,000 patients has potentially been exposed after an unencrypted laptop was stolen from the car of a NEMS employee's car. According to a breach notice sent to the California Department of Public Health, the incident occurred on July 11, 2015. The laptop was left in the locked trunk of a vehicle from where it was subsequently stolen. The healthcare provider was alerted to the equipment theft on July 13.