Renton Doctor Office Burglarized

RENTON, Wash., Dec. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The office of Paul C. Brown, M.D., P.S., was burglarized the weekend of October 14, 2011. The thieves broke into the office and stole various pieces of office equipment including CDs containing patient information data from 1993 - 2004. Upon discovery of the theft, on October 17, 2011, a police report was filed and ID Experts®, the data breach solutions company, was retained to assist in notifying affected patients and to mitigate potential misuse of patient information.

Notification letters were sent to all affected patients via USPS mail on December 13, 2011. The personal information included patient name, Social Security number, date of birth, home address, and clinical information, such as diagnoses and conditions, lab results, medications and other treatment information (for example, surgery records and radiological tests).  The records also may have contained the name and ID number of the patient's health plan. There have been no reports indicating that the information has been misused.

In addition to notifying all affected patients, Dr. Brown is offering one year of fraud resolution services. In the event of misuse of personal information, patients will receive fully-managed victim restoration and insurance reimbursement. Patients with questions regarding this incident can call 1-866-686-8670 or visit www.BrownIDExperts.com.

Steps taken to prevent such events in the future include installation of encryption technology and updating physical security systems to protect patient data.

How patients are being protected:

Dr. Brown has contracted with ID Experts, the leader in comprehensive data breach solutions, to provide a one year ID Experts FraudStop™ Healthcare Edition membership. The membership will include:

• Credit Monitoring
• Fraud Resolution Representatives 
• Healthcare Identity Protection Toolkit™
• Insurance Reimbursement for covered expenses

This press release is in accordance with the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. Dr. Paul C. Brown, M.D., P.S., has notified patients and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

SOURCE ID Experts