MDS

Healthcare IT News
July 20, 2010 | Molly Merrill, Associate Editor

Mass. hospital investigating the potential loss of back-up data for 800,000 individuals

WEYMOUTH, MA – South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, Mass., reported on Monday that back-up computer files containing personal, health and financial information for approximately 800,000 individuals may have been lost by a data management company that was hired to destroy them.

Officials at South Shore Hospital, a not-for-profit, regional provider of acute, outpatient, home health, and hospice care for Southeastern Massachusetts, said the files were being destroyed because the formatting was no longer compatible with what the hospital used.

According to the hospital, files were sent to a professional data management company for offsite destruction on Feb. 26. When certificates of destruction were not provided in a timely manner, officials said they pressed the data management company for an explanation and were finally informed on June 17 that only a portion of the files had been received and destroyed.

The hospital’s investigation has revealed that the computer files contained personally identifiable information for patients who received medical services at South Shore Hospital – as well as employees, physicians, volunteers, donors, vendors and other business partners associated with the hospital.

The information on the files may include individuals’ full names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, medical record numbers, patient numbers, health plan information, dates of service, protected health information including diagnoses and treatments relating to certain hospital and home healthcare visits, and other personal information. Bank account information and credit card numbers for a very small subset of individuals also may have been on the back-up computer files, said officials. You can read more here

Click on the image below to download the PDF flyer.

RBC Wealth Management, Inc. is sponsoring a shredding event, by invitation only, on June 19, 2010.

Mobile Data Shredding will be present to perform shredding services and provide valuable information on Identity Theft prevention, FACTA, HIPAA, and Gramm/Leach/Bliley compliance.

The hours of operation on June 19 are 9:00 am to 12:00 noon.

Mobile Data Shredding, Inc. has been very active with community, public and private shredding programs. It is a very effective way for anyone to learn more about our Secure, On-Site Shredding Services and the benefits they provide for you. These values extend to corporate organizations and private individuals as well.

For more information regarding this event, to find out how to arrange a community shredding day of your own, or about our secure services in general, please contact Vicky at 774-454-3107.

Regarding: Federal Trade Commission, Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA), and Red Flag Requirements.

Mobile Data Shredding, Inc. is a good resource for you regarding FACTA, Red Flag Rules, and other legislation involving data security management and destruction. Feel free to contact us any time for more information. Our involvement can be help in your security procedures planning. With that in mind we have compiled a basic overview of information below that may be important for your organization.

FACTA has a great deal of influence over the activities and procedures involved in our daily activities in the Paper, Computer Tape and Hard Drive Shredding and Destruction business.
FACTA is a Federal act administered by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and designed to protect America’s consumers from Identity Theft and other illegal activities involving their personal, confidential financial information.

FACTA is directed specifically toward financial institutions and creditors; those organizations that require consumer financial data in order to conduct their business. These companies are compelled to take responsibility and proper care of the private information that is in their custody. That management absolutely involves thorough, secure destruction of documents and other data storage mediums (such as tapes and hard drives) that have come to end-of-cycle.

A financial institution is defined as:
• State or National Bank
• State or Federal Savings and Loan Association
• Mutual Savings Bank
• State or Federal Credit Union
• Any entity holding a “transaction account” belonging to a consumer

A creditor is defined as:
• Finance Company
• Automobile Dealer
• Mortgage Broker
• Utility Company
• Telecommunications Company

FACTA, under new FTC guidelines has issued additional requirements to the regulated companies described above. Those guidelines fall under the Red Flag Rules.
Under the Red Flag Rules, financial institutions and creditors must develop a written program that identifies and detects the relevant warning signs also known as the “Red Flags” of identity theft. Among the requirements, the program must include procedures and actions that would prevent and mitigate the suspicious use of applications documents, reports, transaction activity, etc.

Implementation of the Red Flag Rule (section 114 under FACTA) states that financial institutions and creditors are required to comply by 6/1/2010.

Our Scheduled, Secure, On-Site Shredding services will meet and manage those requirements for you. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if we can be of any assistance with compliant records destruction.

Mobile Data Shredding, Inc.
877-225-6010
http://www.mdshred.com

We here at Mobile Data Shredding feel strongly that continuing education in the shredding industry is one key to our success. Our in-depth knowledge and exposure to secure shredding industry trends, technology, recycling and legal compliance responsibility ensures that we are an extremely valuable resource to our clients who have custody of confidential files. Those files can be stored on paper or on computer tape and hard drives.

We are proud to announce that we recently attended and completed the formal Shred School which is a comprehensive educational experience that is produced, administered and instructed by Total Training Services, Inc.

Attendees and students represent small and large shredding companies from all over the country and form a fine contact network source of information.

We have expanded our capability to advise and structure proper destruction programs for clients to maintain conformity with State and Federal laws such as FACTA, HIPAA, Gramm, Leach, Bliley, etc. On-site shredding services become increasingly valuable as these laws carry substantial non-compliance penalties.

Our recent Shred School accreditation offers measurable benefits to our growing customer base and we look forward to working with new and existing clients using our stronger knowledge base. Contact us today for more information on compliance regulations and how we can help.

We are pleased to announce two Community Shred days this spring.

A real estate firm is sponsoring an event in Baltimore on June 5.

A condominium development community in Gaithersburg is holding their shred day on June 5 as well.

Feel free to call Vicky at 774-454-3107 for details and directions.

Mobile Data Shredding is pleased to present this informative two-page pdf on our Computer Tape and Hard Drive Destruction Services. This information may be useful even for those who already have shredding programs in place. We’d love to hear your comments as well!

Click here to download this informative document (pdf)

In case you’ve missed them we’ve started collecting feedback from clients lately and realized we should have done this sooner. No one can sell our services better than people who’ve already put them to the test.

Here’s just one of the recent ones:

“Mike with Mobile Data Shredding provided GREAT service for the value to our non-profit in disposing of our old DLT tapes. He was on time and his firm was convenient to use. We were invited to watch the destruction and offered a “certificate” for our auditors after the items were shredded in his mobile truck facility. Could not have been easier or better for us as he just drove the truck over to our offices and everything was taken care of right on our premises with one employee missing about 20 minutes of work. Would use again and definitely recommend to others needing this type of work done.” ~Bob Clark

You can see a number of other reviews on our local business page on Google.

And if you’re an existing client, there’s no better compliment than a public referral, let us know how we’re doing and leave a review.

Effective February 17, 2010 Mobile Data Shredding’s Baltimore, Maryland office will be open for you to drop off your sensitive paper, hard drives, backup tapes, video tapes, audio tapes, CDs and other materials for secure shredding every Wednesday.

Appointments are required, please call 877-225-6010 at least 24-hours in advance.

Whether it be paper files, confidential records, old tax returns, canceled checks, receipts, business or personal records; we will be able to securely shred those documents conveniently and at a very reasonable price.

Typically, business and residential shredding requirements are handled at your location with our on-site shredding vehicle’s powerful industrial shredding system. But now you have an option to drop off your materials at our facility to save on costs. This is perfect for small-volume shredding needs or for when you need fast destruction and can’t wait to schedule. Maybe you just need to drop off materials on your way to or from work and will enjoy this convenience. In any case, we’re here to help!

Drop Off Schedule:
• Every Wednesday
• Make sure you call ahead to schedule your visit.

Typical Procedure:
• Bring your boxes, bags, tubs, containers, etc.
• Your paper documents or other sensitive materials will be safely and thoroughly shredded at our secure facility.
• You will be presented with an official Certificate of Destruction for your records.

You can contact us online to schedule a shredding drop-off or call 877-225-6010

Mobile Data Shredding, Inc.
8841 Kelso Drive
Baltimore, MD 21221

Barcode Scanning Benefits for On-Site Computer Tape & Hard Drive Destruction Services

We’ve been thinking about all the different ways we’ve been helping our clients get the best service for the best value and noticed a trend towards the need for more accountability in data security in last few years. Often, several different departments (whether it’s Legal, IT, Upper Management or other) are on the line to ensure 100% verifiable security in the data destruction process.

In the fight against loose security measures and potentially lost or misplaced media (which can literally cost a company millions in the wrong situation), Mobile Data Shredding has developed a valuable option. For clients needing the highest level of verifiable security and data destruction tracking for your Computer Tape & Hard Drive (media) destruction projects is in our Destruction Inventory Reporting Service.

That report is effectively a specific post-mortem account of all the media designated and demolished.

As a result, your company’s security, legal, facilities, IT, and management teams will all be satisfied with the release from liability and comfort that all that retired media isn’t lingering around any longer.

Most every Tape Cartridge has a unique vol/ser # barcoded label. Hard Drives have them, too.

As part of the staging and logging process, these labels are scanned, using our programmable barcode scanners, and then downloaded to a laptop computer, where the Destruction Inventory Report is created in Excel format. The report is a listing of every single vol/ser # scanned and destroyed.

Once we’ve completed the media destruction you’re presented with our Certificate of Destruction including a general description of the media destroyed, date, time and signed by an authorized Mobile Data Shredding employee.

At the same time you can have your Destruction Inventory Report, with specific details, via email or stored onto a flash drive.

That makes the entire process complete. Secure … On-Site … Fast … Safe … Efficient … Supervised … Detailed … Proof-Positive … Economical.

When contacting us for your media shredding projects, don’t forget to ask about our enhanced Destruction Inventory Reporting Services.