Stolen Computer At Excela Health Jeannette Campus May Put Identities Of Patients At Risk

Stolen Computer May Put Identities Of Patients At Risk

July 9, 2011 12:12 PM

(Photo Credit: CBS)

Filed under

Health, Local, News

Featured Gallery

Namaste: Yoga Poses For Beginners

For more trusted health

news and information,

visit CBS Pittsburgh's

JEANNETTE (KDKA) — A computer stolen from a hospital may have put the identities of patients at risk.

Officials with Excela Health say they sent a letter to patients who visited its Jeannette campus to let them know that a computer had been stolen from radiology.

The computer contained names, birth dates and exam information, but Excela says no financial data or social security numbers.

However, it is still not going over well with affected patients.

“[I’m] really frustrated with this. I’m unemployed and all I need is what little money I have left in the bank to be stolen off of me and I’m done,” said Brian Przyby, a patient. “As a hospital, I don’t think that this stuff should be that easily stolen, that easily accessed.”

Excela Health is also offering to pay for 12 months of free access to an identity protection and credit monitoring service for the patients who were affected.

Excela Health released a statement that reads: “Recently, we discovered that a computer from the radiology department of our Jeannette campus was missing. After a thorough security review, we concluded it had been stolen.

“The computer contained some limited patient information such as name, date of birth and type of exam performed. No financial data or Social Security Numbers were stored on the missing computer.

“We believe the risk of inappropriate access to the data in this situation is extremely low because specialized medical software would be needed to retrieve the information. Even so, Excela Health is committed to safeguarding our patients’ personal information.

“Letters have been sent to the impacted patients, and we are offering them 12 months of free access to an identity protection and credit monitoring service.

“We regret this incident because our high standards for protecting patient information were not met. We are taking steps to ensure an incident like this does not happen again.”

RELATED LINKS:
Excela Health
More Local News

FOLLOW US:
KDKA On Facebook
KDKA On Twitter
Follow KDKA Personalities

2059

Westmoreland Hospital, aka Excela Health, is the UPMC of Westmoreland County. They buy up all the hospitals they can in the county and close the ones they don’t want, eliminating competion, creating a health care monopoly. Along with this monopoly comes sloppy patient care and bogus heart stent operations. To top it all off they have the gall to have their “patients” in TV ads telling the people how great Excela Health is. Let’s all give Excela and UPMC a good ole fashioned Bronx cheer.
Harley

Or the stolen computer could show how the hospital is billing health care providers & patients for services they didn’t need or ever get. Sounds like a gold mine.
I was a patient at UPMC and was billed $3,000 dollars for an overnight stay, I never saw one accredited doctor only a medical student who didn’t tell me who she was until I asked. The only reason I could dispute the charges is that I was paying in cash.
2059 you are right.
http://daily-tech.net/?p=49 Lastest Computer News : Daily Technology News Update

[...] Stolen Computer May Put Identities Of Patients At Risk A computer stolen from a hospital may have put the identities of patients at risk. Officials with Excela Health say they sent a letter to patients who visited its Jeannette campus to let them know that a computer had been stolen from radiology. Read more on CBS Pittsburgh [...]