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Boulder Police Investigate Missing Hospital Paperwork

Patients Warned Personal Information May Be Stolen

POSTED: 10:49 pm MDT September 4, 2008
UPDATED: 11:38 pm MDT September 4, 2008

Forms with patient names, addresses, social security numbers, and other personal information may have been stolen from Boulder Community Hospital, police said Thursday.

Boulder Police spokeswoman Sarah Huntley said investigators were contacted Wednesday about 207 patient-intake forms that could not be located and were possibly stolen.

The forms were for patients who visited the Occupational Health and Therapy Services Department from April to June of this year, said Boulder Community Hospital spokesman Rich Sheehan.

“We take the confidentiality of patient information very seriously,” Sheehan told 7NEWS Thursday.

Sheehan said the problem surfaced Aug. 15, when a staff member began compiling a quarterly report.

“Our clerk went to the file cabinet where the forms should have been and they weren’t there,” he said.

Sheehan said initially the forms were thought to be misfiled. However, when the forms couldn’t be found police were called.

“Theft couldn’t be ruled out,” he said.

Sheehan told 7NEWS security changes have already been made –- including the addition of a card reader to track when employees enter the area where the documents are stored.

Boulder Police said they have no suspects and investigators will look into if any fraudulent activity has already occurred.

“One of the things they will do is go back through identity theft reports we’ve received in recent weeks to see if there is any linkage there,” Huntley said. Sheehan said the hospital has hiied a company to help those people minimize risk of ID theft and will be picking up the bill for those services.

The number of patents affected by the situation is expected to decrease in the coming days. Sheehan said about 30 patients were already been ruled out as potential victims Thursday because their intake forms didn’t include sensitive information.

“We are extremely sorry that this situation occurred,” Sheehan said. “We want to do everything we can to make the situation as palatable as possible for people.”

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