Computer stolen From UNC facility in Burlington puts patient info at risk

A computer stolen in October from UNC Dermatology & Skin Cancer Center in Burlington, N.C., holds information on thousands of patients, according to an article on the WFMY website.

The health care system said it's in the process of notifying all 24,000 people affected by the theft. Those affected were patients of the former “Burlington Dermatology Center” or “Burlington Dermatology.”

The information was part of a password-protected database that included patient names, addresses and phone numbers as well as employment status, employer names, patient birth dates and patient social security numbers. It is not believed that any treatment, diagnosis or prescription records were kept on the computer other than diagnosis codes used for billing purposes.  

“We have ensured that all remaining computers acquired from, or kept for use by Burlington Dermatology have been properly secured.  UNC Health Care has also implemented process improvements to ensure that future acquisitions of physician practices include a process to properly secure legacy computers and electronic patient information,” David Behinfar, Chief Privacy Officer, UNC Health Care, said in the article. 

Read the article.