EqualizeRCM Systems, a billing and collection services vendor recently suffered healthcare incident when one of its
laptop was stolen. Laptop contained patients information which included names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, insurance information, genders, healthcare provider information, billing and diagnosis codes, medical record numbers, internal reference numbers, dates and types of service, locations of services received, and other 
administrative data.
Affected facilities included-
- Northstar Healthcare Surgery Center (Scottsdale, Houston, Dallas)Microsurgery Institute (Houston, Dallas)Hermann Drive Surgical HospitalVictory Medical Center Houston
- Central Dallas Surgery Center
- Southwest Freeway Surgery Center
- Kirby Surgical Center
- Plano Surgical Hospital
Stolen laptop belonged to one of its employees. EqualizeRCM Systems launched investigation after the incident. Financial information and Social Security numbers were not affected. Number of affected individuals were not specified by the facility. But the letter to the New Hampshire Department of Justice mentioned that two individuals from the state were affected.
Facility believes that the information is not misused. But it has offered affected individuals with complimentary identity theft monitoring and remediation services.Notification letters are also sent to affected individuals. EqualizeRCM Systems mentioned that it has developed and implemented additional security measures.
“The privacy and protection of patient information is a top priority for EqualizeRCM, and we deeply regret any inconvenience or concern this incident may cause,” explained the statement. “We are working closely with the affected facilities in our response to this event, and have taken steps to help prevent this type of incident from happening in the future including reviewing our policies and procedures, implementing additional safeguards to ensure information in our control is appropriately protected, and retraining employees on existing policies for the proper handling of sensitive information.”
“EqualizeRCM provides a variety of scalable services to healthcare entities across many segments including ambulatory surgery centers (ASC), durable medical equipment manufacturers (DME), Mental Health Facilities, physicians and providers, hospitals, and urgent care facilities.”
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