Thursday, March 28, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Straub Employee Snooped Medical Records for Six Years
By News Release @ 8:20 PM :: 3930 Views :: Health Care, Law Enforcement

Notice of Data Breach

From Hawaii Pacific Health

On January 17, 2020, Hawaii Pacific Health (HPH) learned that the personal information of its patients may have been inappropriately accessed by a Straub Medical Center employee. We identified that the employee accessed patient records between November 2014 and January 2020 and some instances of access may not have been for a valid reason. The employee involved in this matter is no longer employed by Straub. This notice is on behalf of Straub Medical Center, Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children, Pali Momi Medical Center and Wilcox Medical Center.

The patient information that may have been accessed include: patient demographic information (including first and last name, address, phone number, email address, date of birth, religion, race/ethnicity, and social security number), medical record number, primary care provider, past or current dates of service, appointment type and related notes, hospital account number, department name, provider name, guarantor (the person responsible for payment) name and account number, and health plan name.

The trust our patients have in us to provide for their health care needs is very important to us, and that includes safeguarding their personal information. Therefore, we want to ensure that our patients, community and regulators are made fully aware of this issue.

In response to this incident, HPH is reviewing its internal procedures and staff training to make any necessary adjustments. We are also looking at new technologies that will improve our ability to more quickly detect patterns of access that may indicate an employee is viewing health information inappropriately.

On March 17, 2020, we mailed letters to all affected individuals. While we believe that the ex-employee was likely accessing the information out of curiosity, rather than for the purposes of identity theft, HPH is including an offer of one year of free credit monitoring and identity restoration services. If you have not received a letter regarding this breach, but would like to confirm whether your information was potentially affected, you may call the toll-free phone number below.

A dedicated, toll-free call center is available for questions and concerns:

(833) 570-0382
6am – 6pm PST
Monday – Friday (excluding national holidays)

  *   *   *   *   *

THE QUEEN'S HEALTH SYSTEMS NOTIFIES PATIENTS OF POTENTIAL RELEASE OF PERSONAL HEALTH INFORMATION

From Queens.org, 02.21.2020

HONOLULU–The Queen’s Health Systems is notifying approximately 2,900 patients from The Queen’s Medical Center and Queen’s North Hawaii Community Hospital that some of their personal health information may have been inadvertently exposed when an email containing the information was sent to the wrong address. Letters to the affected patients were mailed on February 20.

Importantly, Social Security numbers and financial account information were not included in the email and patients should be assured that their financial security is not at risk.

“We take the privacy and confidentiality of our patients’ information very seriously and deeply regret the concern and inconvenience this situation may cause,” said Harold Moscho, Vice President of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer. “There is no indication that the information has been or will be misused. Maintaining our patients’ trust is our utmost priority and thus, we believe proactively making them aware of this situation is essential. Upon learning of the incident, we moved as quickly as possible to confirm the facts and then to set up the call center and distribute the letters to the affected individuals.”

The incident occurred February 3 when an employee inadvertently sent an email to the wrong address. The email included an attachment that contained information on 2,852 patients who had been seen since June 1, 2019. The information involved includes patient name, patient account number, health plan ID, admission date, discharge date and other limited information related to the patients’ care. In approximately 300 cases, the information also included patient diagnoses. The error was discovered the next day and steps were immediately taken to contact the recipient and recall the message. To date, our efforts to contact the individual or recall the email have been unsuccessful.

The Queen’s Health Systems recommends that affected patients carefully review the statements they receive from their insurers and health care providers. If any services that were not provided to them are listed, they should contact the insurer or provider immediately.

A hotline has been established for affected patients who have questions. Patients can call 1-844- 904- 0956, Monday through Friday between 8:00 am and 5:30 pm, HST.

“While Queen’s has long had safeguards in place to protect patient information, we have taken additional steps to prevent this from occurring in the future. Queen’s is committed to being best- in- class when it comes to information security and our commitment to providing superior healthcare includes ensuring the security and confidentiality of our patients’ information,” Moscho said.

Editor’s Note: Data published by Modern HealthCare provide perspective on the scale and scope of information breaches in the healthcare industry. 300,000 people were affected in December 2019, alone. The top 20 incidents in 2019 ranged from 11 million to 277,000 individuals affected (chart in Feb. 10 print edition).

  *   *   *   *   *

HHS: Breach Reports (by state)

BHR: Hawaii health system fires employee after wrongfully viewing patient records  

Kokua Line: Letter informs Hawaii Pacific Health patients whose files likely were breached by ex-employee

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

808 Silent Majority

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federalist Society

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Homeschool Association

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Smokers Alliance

Hawaii State Data Lab

Hawaii Together

HIEC.Coop

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Moms for Liberty

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

Investigative Project on Terrorism

July 4 in Hawaii

Kakaako Cares

Keep Hawaii's Heroes

Land and Power in Hawaii

Legislative Committee Analysis Tool

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

Malama Pregnancy Center of Maui

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Military Home Educators' Network Oahu

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Christian Foundation Hawaii

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

No GMO Means No Aloha

Not Dead Yet, Hawaii

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Oahu Alternative Transport

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

OurFutureHawaii.com

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

PEACE Hawaii

People vs Machine

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

P.U.E.O.

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

ReRoute the Rail

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

Robotics Organizing Committee

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Sink the Jones Act

Statehood for Guam

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

UCC Truths

US Tax Foundation Hawaii Info

VAREP Honolulu

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii

Yes2TMT