Medical Practice Reports Data Breach

A new day means a new report of a troubling data breach on a healthcare organization. 

An orthopedic practice has admitted that patient healthcare information was inadvertently left on a server that anyone with an internet connection could access, according to The Daily Swig. In a data breach notice, Mendelson Kornblum Orthopedic and Spine Specialists admitted that patient names, medical record numbers, dates of birth, gender, and medical image metadata were potentially exposed as a result of the data privacy lapse.

Clinic officials said potentially viewable information did not include any medical images themselves, other diagnosis or treatment information, health insurance information, Social Security numbers, credit or debit card numbers, or financial account information.

The issue was uncovered on January 5, and the clinic has since taken steps to bolster its security. It’s unclear how long the problem existed before it was uncovered, much less whether anyone actually viewed the sensitive and confidential information on show.