Patient transport department causes Vanderbilt security breach

In the month of late December, executives at the institute of Vanderbilt University Medical Center discovered that 2 employees in the patient transport department were inappropriately accessing the electronic medical records (EHRs) of patients, obtaining more data than they required doing their jobs, in accordance to the hospital.

An audit learned that the activity had been going on for twenty months with 3,247 patients affected. For a smaller but unrevealed number of patients, their Social Security numbers were viewed by those two employees in the patient transport department.

The university doesn’t consider information was printed, forwarded or downloaded, and so far there is no indication that personal patient information was utilized in any way, a spokesman says.

Patients are being notified and provided information on how to review account statements and their credit status. Sufferers whose Social Security numbers were accessed are being automatically enrolled for one year of credit monitoring and identity protection services from Experian. Also, other sufferers that request protective services will get it.

“We take the responsibility to secure the privacy of our patients very seriously and are doing all that we can do to deal this problem,” Howser claims. “We’ve implemented alternative procedures for patient transport staff to obtain the information they require for their jobs in a way that no longer involves access to patients’ electronic medical records.”

Disciplinary action was taken with the 2 workers, and other transport employees have been retrained on suitable access to patient information, in accordance to the hospital.