Oops. Fairview Health Services in Minneapolis can’t locate a box containing 1,200 patient records. Apparently it was lost in transit.
Social Security numbers and credit card data weren’t part of the records, but medical diagnoses were, including other information, reports the Star Tribune.
To placate patients who have been affected given rising privacy concerns, Fairview is offering one year’s worth of identity protection services free of charge. That will likely cost Fairview about $37,000, or $31 a person, depending on just how many of those 1,200 patients actually sign up for the service.
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Lost privacy is no small matter and hospitals are being penalized for such errors. In February, Massachusetts General Hospital was fined $1 million for losing patient medical records.