Patients' information stolen in 3 thefts

Records of more than 58,000 current and former patients in Washington who received care from Providence Home Services are in the hands of a thief, Providence Health System announced Wednesday.

The University of Washington Medical Center and the state Department of Social and Health Services also have reported computer thefts recently.

The theft of computer backup disks and tapes from a Providence employee's car was reported Dec. 31. The information was taken home by the employee as part of a routine backup process. The records also contained information on more than 300,000 Oregon home-care patients. The hospital stressed that there was no information on patients of Providence hospitals or clinics.

Providence Health System's Richard Cagen, chief executive of the Portland area, said there is no indication the stolen information has been used. Nevertheless, patients are being encouraged to alert credit bureaus.

The stolen information was not encrypted but would be difficult to access, Cagen said. It included patient names and addresses, dates of birth, physician names and insurance information. It also contained diagnoses, prescriptions and, occasionally, lab results. Most of the patient records also included Social Security numbers.

"We sincerely apologize, and we feel horrible about this," Cagen said. "This is going to be inconvenient and really concerning to many, many others."

Providence said it will now treat backup data "like cash," transporting it to a secure off-site location.

The University of Washington Medical Center also reported a patient-record theft in late December, when two laptops were stolen in a break-in. The laptops contained information on 1,600 patients, primarily those who received care at the UW's Travel Medicine Center. Some records included Social Security numbers and mothers' maiden names.

All affected individuals already have been contacted by the UW.

Wednesday, the state Department of Social and Health Services reported that regional offices in Seattle had been broken into recently and laptops had been stolen, though those computers didn't contain confidential records.

Carol M. Ostrom: 206-464-2249 or costrom@seattletimes.com