Southwest Ambulance Data Breach (2011)

A former Southwest Ambulance employee took 581 patient records that included the names, financial and medical information from those customers. Southwest Ambulance recovered the records and notified affected customers about the breach of their private medical records. The Mesa-based company said it recently learned the employee took the records after a property manager found them in a residence vacated by the employee. The employee took the records from Southwest Ambulance over a period of years and used the records for training purposes, Southwest Ambulance said. The company would not reveal any information about the employee, including the person's position and tenure and date the employee left the company. It's unknown whether the former worker was still employed by the company when the data breach was discovered. Southwest Ambulance has agreed to pay credit-monitoring fees for customers whose information was taken by the former employee. Company officials said there is no evidence that customers' information - including names, financial and medical-treatment information - was shared with any other parties or otherwise used inappropriately. The company said that the data breach was an isolated incident and that the company regularly trains its employees on policies and procedures for handling and protecting sensitive medical information. "We found nothing to indicate those records were used inappropriately," said Holly Walter, Southwest Ambulance spokeswoman.