Allina Health Isles Clinic improperly disposes private patient information
MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - Over 6,000 Allina Health patients recently received a letter that their health records may not have been properly destroyed -- meaning their private information could've fallen into the wrong hands. Documents were emptied into a private dumpster instead of secure shredding bins.
This affects people who had appointments at the Allina Health Isles Clinic in Minneapolis between April 6 and Oct. 28 of 2015. Allina doesn't know of any patients who had their information stolen, but a potential breach isn't news patients wanted to hear.
"It's always unfortunate to hear that because it seems reckless and careless and makes everyone vulnerable who has records there of course," patient David Rathbun said.
The disposed documents included names, dates of birth, addresses, medical record numbers, clinical information, last four digits of social security numbers, and insurance information for individuals whose health insurance ID is their social security number.
To prevent this from happening again in the future, the clinic replaced the bins with clearly marked secure bins and retrained employees.
Allina is encouraging patients to watch their credit reports for any unusual activity. They're also offering free credit monitoring and identity theft protection for a year to those affected by the situation.