A health insurance company based in Wisconsin notified over 41,000 participants of a possible HIPAA breach.
An unencrypted portable computer hard drive which contained health records was reported missing from the Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy. The school had the information for a benefits program evaluation.
Since the hard drive was not encrypted, the information on the devise was subject to compromise. The computer contained member name, date of birth, name of prescription drugs and date of service. Unity Health Plans Insurance Corporation notified the impacted members of the potential HIPAA breach.
Benefit Allocation Systems, Inc. encrypts all portable hard drives of its employees so if a laptop were to ever go missing, the information contained therein would retain its security.