Geisinger Health System, a physician-led healthcare system of northeastern and central Pennsylvania, has notified approximately 2,928 patients that some of their protected health information (PHI) was disclosed in an unauthorized manner.
Officials at Geisinger became aware of the disclosure on Nov. 6, but believe the incident occurred on or about Nov. 3, when a former Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center gastroenterologist e-mailed the PHI from a Geisinger computer to his home email account in an un-encrypted manner. The physician had sent this information to his home computer to complete an analysis of his procedures, said officials.
The information included patient names, Geisinger medical record numbers, procedures, indications and the physician's brief impressions regarding the care provided. It did not include addresses, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers, patient account information or any financial information that could make affected patients vulnerable to financial identity theft, officials said.
"Immediately upon speaking with the physician, he contacted and authorized his home e-mail provider to delete the protected health information from its network and servers," said Geisinger Privacy Officer John Gildersleeve. "He also deleted this information from his home computer."
Officials have notified patients as part of Geisinger's health information security program and in compliance with the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009.
"We have reviewed our internal practices and taken appropriate action to avoid reoccurrence," said Gildersleeve. "With the short time frame and the doctor's forthright explanation, we believe there is little risk that the protected health information was seen by anyone other than the physician himself. We take our commitment to maintaining our patients' privacy seriously and regret any inconvenience this inadvertent disclosure may have caused."
Gildersleeve emphasized that affected patients have been contacted by mail. "If you did not receive a letter, your PHI was not included in the email disclosure," he said.
