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Security Breach At Henry Ford Health System

A security breach at Henry Ford Health system. Henry Ford Health System has sent letters apologizing to patients who were affected by a breach of unsecured personal health information.

The letters were sent after hospital officials learned an employees laptop computer sharing the information was stolen from an unlocked urology medical office in September.

Officials say the laptop was password protected, but the patient information stored on the computer could potentially be viewed on the computer. The letter explained what happened, what information was stored on the laptop, and what steps the health system is taking to prevent any future breaches of patient information.

Under federal law, health care organizations are required to notify patients within 60 days of a breach of unsecured health information.

"The security of our patients' health information is very important to us, and we sincerely apologize for what happened," Chief Privacy Officer Meredith Phillips said in a statement. "This laptop did not have the proper security protections that we require for laptop computers storing patient information."

To prevent future patient information breaches, Phillips says employees will be re-educated in the steps necessary to protect patient information stored on computers.

For more information, call 888-313-1027. The health system has offered the affected patients free credit monitoring for one year from Equifax to ensure their information is not used inappropriately.

(Copyright 2010 by WWJ. All Rights Reserved.)

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