HIPPA Notification Breach

On August 23, 2022, one box of physical health patient charts were being transported in employee’s car, locked in the trunk. That vehicle unfortunately was stolen. The police recovered the car; however, the records were missing from the trunk. The information in those records the following information may be included: treatment information, full name, address, date of birth, driver’s license number, Social Security Number, insurance claims information, and credit card/bank account information. We searched our records to determine which charts were missing to ascertain the potentially affected individuals and determined that approximately 85 records were taken; however, we are unable to identify 100% of the missing records. Those we have been able to identify have been directly contacted.

Securing your personal information is important to us. Accordingly, we have implemented additional security measures to protect your information from future unauthorized access, however unlikely it may be. This includes providing additional training to the employee and entire workforce regarding HIPPA requirements, improving physical security by storing internal patient files in a locked closet, and changing our policies to prohibit the removal of physical patient files from the office. We also hired cybersecurity counsel to assist us with updating our policies and systems to increase security and response should an incident occur in the future. Please be assured that we have taken every step necessary to address the incident.

We encourage you to remain vigilant and monitor your credit reports for suspicious activity. You can obtain a free credit report from each of the three credit bureaus by calling 1-877-322-8228. You may also place a “fraud alert” on your credit file at no charge, which alerts creditors to take additional steps to verify your identity prior to granting credit in your name. Please note, placing a fraud alert may delay your ability to obtain credit while the agency verifies your identity. As soon as one credit bureau confirms your fraud alert, the others are notified to place fraud alerts on your file. You can contact the credit bureaus listed below to place an alert on your account or with any questions regarding your credit report. 

Equifax
800-525-6285
www.equifax.com

Experian
888-397-3742
www.experian.com

TransUnion
800-680-7289
www.transunion.com

For more information regarding identity theft please visit the Computer Crime Information and Resources website run by the Office of the Attorney General of Virginia at https://www.oag.state.va.us/CCSWeb2/.  You can also contact that office at: 

Office of the Attorney GeneralComputer Crime Section202 North Ninth Street
Richmond, VA 23219
(804) 786-2071
cybercrimeunit@oag.state.va.us

Should any of our patients have questions or concerns, please contact us at (833) 612-7600 between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. or by sending an email message to rgrohler@beltonehr.com.