UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS FOR MEDICAL SERVICES DATA BREACH NOTIFICATION
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) is contacting patients about a 2010 data breach. About 1,500 patients are included in the data breach notification. The data breach involves a resident physician who was employed by terminated by UAMS and terminated in 2010. UAMS says it recently discovered the resident kept some patient lists and notes regarding patients in violation of UAMS’ policy after leaving facility on June 3, 2010.
The UAMS records were for the time period January 2010 to June 2010 and contained patient’s personal information, including names, partial addresses, medical record numbers, dates of birth, ages, locations of care, dates of service, diagnoses, medications, surgical and other procedure names, as well as lab results, according to a release. No social security, bank account or credit card numbers were included with this information. UAMS said its HIPAA Office became aware of this incident Oct. 9 when the resident produced the documents during her lawsuit against UAMS regarding her termination from the residency program. On Nov. 7, UAMS became aware that additional documents the resident kept had been provided to UAMS attorneys June 25.
Our firm represents the victims of data breaches and data losses. Personal identifying information is a commodity. Your personal information can be sold just like illegal drugs on the street. Companies and government agencies have a duty to protect your personal identifying information. If your personal information is taken or lost, you may be at risk for identity theft for the rest of your life.
What is a data breach? A data breach occurs when electronic information is taken without authorization, or an otherwise legal purpose. For example, a data breach occurs when a hacker accesses a computer network and downloads personal identifying information. Another example of a data breach is when an employee, without authorization, accesses customers/patients’ personal identifying information or financial information for an unlawful purpose.
Have you received a data breach or data loss notification letter? Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), consumers have the right to get their credit reports from consumer reporting agencies due to fraud or identity theft. Consumers also have the right to dispute, for free, any incorrect information on their credit reports. The FCRA provides consumers with a private cause of action if the credit reporting agencies violate the law.
Before you sign any papers or sign up for credit monitoring, you should contact a data security attorney to discuss your rights. Contact data security attorney Micah Adkins at 1-800-263-9091 24/7 for a free case review. Or, use the contact form below.
[contact-form] [contact-field label=”Name” type=”name” required=”true” /] [contact-field label=”Address” type=”address” required=”true” /] [contact-field label=”Email” type=”email” required=”true” /] [contact-field label=”Telephone Number” type=”text” required=”true” /] [contact-field label=”How can we help you?” type=”textarea” required=”true” /] [/contact-form]