Aug 1,2013 (Pioneerpress.com)–Medtronic has notified more than 2,500 patients about a potential privacy breach involving health information that’s protected by federal law.As a precaution, the Fridley-based medical device company sent letters to patients in early July about the situation and also arranged for patients to receive identity protection services, said Cindy Resman, a Medtronic spokeswoman, in a statement Thursday.So far, there have been no reports of any actual misuse of the patient data, Resman said.
“These documents did not contain sensitive or intrusive information,” she said in the statement. “For a small portion of patients, however, it’s possible that additional information was in the box, including insurance company data, contact information and limited patient records.”
In early July, the manufacturer notified patients about a box of training records that had gone missing from a facility in Minnesota, Resman said. Most of the documents and records in the box dated back to 2008 and were connected with training in the use of insulin pumps or continuous glucose monitoring devices.Medtronic believes the box has only been misplaced and remains on company facilities. However, there is “at least a possibility,” Resman said, that the box no longer is under Medtronic’s control.It’s possible that some patient records included Social Security numbers, she said, but added: “We believe that to be a very small number.” Resman said the total number of patients contacted was 2,764.In addition to issuing letters to patients, Medtronic notified the federal government about the situation. Companies and other organizations are required to report breaches of unsecured protected health information that affect 500 or more individuals.In 2011, Minneapolis-based Fairview Health Services notified about 1,200 patients about a potential privacy breach after a box of patient health and billing records went missing.
Medtronic notifies patients of lost documents
(Visited 3 times, 2 visits today)