[ISN] TRICARE data breach

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123280606

11/18/2011 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Science Applications International 
Corporation is mailing letters to affected military clinic and hospital 
patients regarding a data breach involving personally identifiable and 
protected health information.

On Sept. 14, SAIC reported the loss of backup tapes containing 
electronic health care records used in the military health system to 
capture patient data from 1992 through Sept. 7, 2011, in San 
Antonio-area military treatment facilities.

This includes patients filling pharmacy prescriptions and other patients 
whose laboratory workups were processed in these same MTFs, even if the 
patients were receiving treatment elsewhere. The data may include Social 
Security numbers, addresses and phone numbers, and some personal health 
data such as clinical notes, laboratory tests and prescriptions. There 
is no financial data, such as credit card or bank account information, 
on the backup tapes.

The risk of harm to patients is judged to be low since retrieving the 
data on the tapes would require knowledge of, and access to, specific 
hardware and software and knowledge of the system and data structure. As 
a precaution, the assistant secretary of defense (health affairs) 
determined that SAIC should notify potentially impacted persons or 
households of this incident by letter.

As directed by TRICARE Management Activity, SAIC will provide credit 
monitoring and credit restoration services for one year for patients 
requesting them. The credit restoration services being provided exceeds 
current industry standards for responding to a data breach.

SAIC's Incident Response Center is available to answer patient's 
questions, including helping with signing up for credit monitoring, 
Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST. Concerned patients 
should call the response center to ask questions and verify authenticity 
of the letter:

- United States, call toll free at 855-366-0140

- International, call collect at 952-556-8312

For more information, visit http://www.tricare.mil/Breach/.

(Courtesy of TRICARE Public Affairs.)



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