Resource:
Loss Scenario: Missing Laptop Results in $365,000 in Added Costs
Learn the risks a health care organization loss scenario can present, and how Chubb can save you time, money and liability.
DESCRIPTION OF EVENT
An employee took her laptop from the work premises to the train station on a trip to evaluate regional compliance with new-patient care mandates as prescribed by health care reform. The laptop contained unencrypted protected health information (PHI)—names, social security numbers, current status of medical conditions and diagnoses—for 750 nursing home patients. When the employee went to board her train, she discovered that her laptop was missing from the bench where she’d been sitting. She reported the theft to the nursing home’s administrative staff, which in turn reported the incident immediately to the regional office of Health & Human Resources (HHS) as required by law for breaches affecting more than 500 individuals.
RESOLUTION
The nursing home spent $115,000 performing forensics, engaging counsel for compliance assessment, and providing notification and call center services for the 750 nursing home patients whose PHI was missing as a result of the laptop theft. The nursing home also spent $100,000 in defense costs responding to a regulatory inquiry from HHS, and it incurred $150,000 in Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act fines and penalties for not having encrypted the PHI stored on the laptop.
Could this happen to your organization? Contact a trusted Chubb agent or broker.
