HHS OCR breach portal (HIPAA breaches affecting 500 or more individuals) Primary notice
Posted on the HHS Office for Civil Rights breach portal with a submission date of Oct. 15, 2013.
- Organization as reported
- North Country Hospital and Health Center, Inc, VT
- Entity type as reported
- Healthcare Provider
- Category as reported
Theft
- Location of information as reported
- Laptop
- Submission date
- Oct. 15, 2013
- Observed by BreachRecords
- 2026-10-18 16:15 UTC (revision 15295, row:6434)
- Archived copy
- Held in the private archive (provenance)
A former employee of the covered entity (CE), North Country Hospital and Health Center, retained possession of a retired unencrypted laptop computer that contained protected health information (PHI) following his termination on July 15, 2013. The types of PHI involved in the breach included electronically signed physician orders with dates and ordering providers’ names, as well as patient names, demographic information and clinical information, including diagnoses. The CE provided breach notification to HHS, affected individuals, and the media. As a result of OCR’s investigation, the CE installed removable disk encryption on all of its laptops as well as desktop computers that store PHI. It also revised the computer system and risk management policy. The CE also implemented a termination checklist and a termination procedure. OCR provided technical assistance to the CE regarding risk analysis.