San Antonio Metropolitan Health District, Data Breach (2014)

There is word today of a disturbing data breach at the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District, Newsradio 1200 WOAI reports. Officials say a thief stole a laptop computer which contained the vaccination records of as many as 300 children that are stored in the records of the Vaccines for Children program. The records that were stolen include the first and the last name of the patient, the patient's date of birth, an identifier for the patient's doctor, and the name of the immunizations. The laptop has been recovered, and the theft was reported to the police, which are investigating. "Metro Health takes the privacy of individual health information seriously and is reviewing all practices and policies associated with the handling and transport of protected health information," a spokeswoman said. "While the likelihood of harm from this breach is minimal, those affected by this theft are being individually notified and advised to monitor their health insurance statements closely for any unusual activity."