Christus St. Joseph Hospital reports data theft: 16,000 affected

April 26, 2005

Information including medical records and social security numbers of about 16,000 people collected by Christus St. Joseph Hospital, Houston TX,  has been stolen. Paper medical records had been sent to Gateway File Systems of Vancouver, British Columbia to convert them to digital files. Police say a burglar broke a window and made away with the data between Jan 15 and Jan 17, 2005.

"We have no evidence to believe anyone's identity has been compromised because of this," India Chumney Hancock, a hospital spokesman said. Hospital officials say their investigation, coupled with information gathered by the Houston Police Department, indicates the burglars were interested only in the computers and not their data. The hospital since has terminated its contract with Gateway. Hancock said the data that may have been on the computer represents less than 1 percent of all patient records at Christus St. Joseph.

The letter sent out by the hospital indicates that only the following patients could be potentially affected:
> Emergency room visits from January through December 2004
> Outpatient visits in radiology, sports medicine and rehabilitation from August through September 2003 and April through June 2004
> Patient charts from January through December 2001

Harper and Hancock said the medical data on the stolen computer was encrypted and protected with passwords. Hancock said the hospital waited to notify patients because officials did not want the thieves to know what was on the computer. "We needed to complete the investigation, generate an accurate list and notify patients as a precaution," Hancock said.

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