Notice to Our Patients of Lost Laptop
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center is committed to protecting the privacy and security of patient information. Fred Hutch is notifying patients about a recent incident involving a lost laptop.
What Happened?
On October 27, 2023, Fred Hutch learned that one of our providers lost their personal laptop while traveling. The provider used their laptop to access Fred Hutch email through the Microsoft Outlook application. The personal laptop was password protected and the provider initiated a remote wipe should the laptop come online. To date, the laptop has not connected to the internet, and we have no reason to believe that any of the information on the laptop was accessed.
What Information Was Involved?
Upon learning of the loss, Fred Hutch began an investigation which included hiring a forensic team to determine what information was in the provider’s email account. Based on the review to date, we determined that some patient information was included in the provider’s email, and may have included: name, address, phone number, date of birth, medical record number, patient account number, date(s) of service, and/or certain clinical information related to care at Fred Hutch. For a limited number of patients, a Social Security number may have also been included.
What is Fred Hutch Doing?
Fred Hutch greatly values patient trust and is committed to safeguarding personal information. We are providing additional education to our workforce on required safeguards for mobile devices and reviewing our policies and processes to help prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
Beginning December 26, 2023, Fred Hutch is mailing letters to affected patients, and offering complimentary credit monitoring and identity protection services to patients whose Social Security number may have been involved. Our investigation is ongoing, and we will mail letters to any additional patients whose information is identified once the investigation is complete.
What Can Patients Do?
Patients are encouraged to review statements from their health insurer and to contact their insurance company immediately if anything is inaccurate. As a precaution, we also recommend patients remain vigilant to protect against potential fraud and/or identity theft by reviewing account statements, monitoring credit reports, and notifying financial institutions of any potential suspicious activity. Patients may also wish to review the tips provided by the Federal Trade Commission (or FTC) on fraud alerts, security/credit freezes and steps that they can take to avoid identity theft.
For more information about identity protection and to contact the FTC, please visit https://www.identitytheft.gov/#/ or call 1-877-ID-THEFT (1-877-438-4338). You may also contact the FTC at Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20580.
For More Information.
If patients have questions, they are encouraged to call Fred Hutch’s dedicated call center at 1-888-723-1054, Monday through Friday, between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. PST. You can also view the press release.