St. Joseph Health System patients records breach

St. Joseph Health System in California says the records for patients treated at five of its hospitals were stored on the organization’s internal computer network with incorrect security settings that allowed for the potential for inappropriate access. The information was available to search engines from early 2011 until earlier this month, when the glitch was discovered.

Information that may have been exposed includes patient name, diagnoses list, medication allergies, BMI, blood pressure, lab results, smoking status, and more. Also included was certain demographic information, including date of birth, race and gender. It appears the leak did not include any financial information or Social Security numbers.

“The information was not readily identifiable on the Internet,” according to a statement from the health system. “In most cases, a complex combination of terms or extensive search would have been required to access the records.”

If you are a patient at any one of their facilities, you should contact them immediately.