Utah Records Breach
It's the unfortunate but frequent way that a facility experiences a medical records breach. Someone leaves medical records information in a vehicle, said vehicle is broken into and the information is out there, compromised.
In this case, the University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics experienced the breach. A courier for an offsite records storage company violated policy and put a tape containing the medical billing records of 1.5 million patients in the back of his sport-utility vehicle, and drove to his home. There, thieves broke into the SUV and stole the cash box that contained the records.
The breach cost the University more than $2 million, which was spent notifying affected patients and letting them know their options. It doesn't seem likely, according to www.ksl.com, that the somewhat bumbling thieves knew how to access the information on the tapes they were in possession of, as according to the authorities, the pair were "definitely not techies," and authorities also questioned whether the thieves "could find their rear ends with both hands," which I believe is possibly some sort of official police talk.
The University still plans to work with the FBI to determine if the patients' records are at risk, and two class-action lawsuits have been filed.