A1A South

The medical records of some Central Florida Regional Hospital patients were sold last month at a Salt Lake City surplus store for about $20, a newspaper reported.”I find it inexcusable,” said Susan Mezzoni, a Lake Mary, Fla., woman whose husband’s records were among those sold. “I don’t like that they’re out there.”

The Deseret Morning News of Salt Lake City reported in a copyright story for Monday editions that the records of 28 patients were sold to a local school teacher looking for scrap paper for her fourth-grade class.

The mixup is being blamed on a shipping problem, and UPS told The Associated Press on Monday it is investigating.

The box lost its label, said Atlanta-based UPS spokesman Norman Black. After its arrival at a vendor facility responsible for trying to determine who owned the package, it appears a worker failed to open and catalog all the contents properly.

“It appears the box was classified as scrap paper of no value,” Black said. “That’s where we believe there was a break down in our process - if this is what actually happened.”

Some of the people whose records were sold or whose loved ones’ records were sold want answers and assurances it won’t happen again.

“I’m aghast,” said Marcy Lippincott, a Lake Mary attorney whose father’s records were among those lost. “I’m wondering who to sue. It’s a complete invasion of privacy. It’s appalling to think your records can be out there somewhere like that.”

In December, the box was one of three shipped to a Las Vegas company for a Medicare audit, said Kelly Ferrell, the hospital’s risk manager. Hospital officials had been tracking the box since it was reported missing in Phoenix but did not contact the affected patients, she said.

“We worry about wrongful disclosure. That information is very personal,” she said.

The packages were certified and sent by UPS, Ferrell said. When one of the boxes didn’t arrive, a Las Vegas auditor on Feb. 4 contacted hospital officials who, in turn, contacted UPS two weeks later.

Officials said they’re unsure how the box made its way to Utah, though the package containing the records also had a document indicating it was sold because the shipping company could not deliver it or find its owner.

Shipping companies often sell off packages that cannot be delivered. Another UPS spokesman told the Deseret Moring News his company keeps packages for at least three months before liquidating them.

“UPS has developed a very extensive and technologically advanced system for trying to identify and locate missing packages,” Dan McMackin said. “And yes, we do inspect every shipment deemed to be overgoods. All sensitive shipments are treated with confidentiality and disposed of properly.”

But the package containing the records was eventually sold as scrap paper at National Product Sales.

“UPS is not trying to pretend it has no responsibility here,” Black said. “This a mistake that was made at all levels in terms of handling this thing, and we’re going to get the bottom of it and see what we have to do to improve.”

He would not identify the vendor.

Hospital officials said they were waiting up to eight business days to hear from UPS before alerting patients, Ferrell said.

The records from Central Florida Regional contained detailed medical histories, phone numbers, addresses, Social Security numbers and insurance information.

Several of the patients whose information was lost in Salt Lake City are dead, and some relatives said they were not concerned about the missing box.

“They’re no good now,” said Henry Humphrey of Sanford, Fla. His mother, Hattie Humphrey, was a patient at the hospital in 2004. “It may contain her (Social Security) number, but that’s no good neither.”

However, Kirk Torgensen, Utah’s chief deputy attorney general, said the deceased are prime targets for identity theft.

“Dead people, they’re not typically looking at their credit file,” he said. “What better person to use their identity?”

Hospital spokesman Craig A. Bair said officials were in contact with the shipping company and were looking at ways to ensure they did not have this problem again.

“Boxes of that type are shipped like that by hospitals all over the country all the time,” he said.

Source:  Miami Herald

I don’t know about y’all, but I’m feeling all warm and fuzzy about how secure my medical records are. Maybe I’ll pay cash and go under an assumed name.

I thought everybody knew that medical records were confidential.  Perhaps “confidential” has a new, improved meaning that I was not aware of.