HHS OCR breach portal (HIPAA breaches affecting 500 or more individuals) Primary notice
Posted on the HHS OCR breach portal (HIPAA breaches affecting 500 or more individuals) with a submission date of May 24, 2013.
- Organization as reported
- SynerMed / Inland Valleys IPA, CA
- Entity type as reported
- Business Associate
- Category as reported
Theft
- Location of information as reported
- Laptop
- Submission date
- May 24, 2013
- Observed by BreachRecords
- 2026-10-18 16:15 UTC (revision 15397, row:6536)
- Archived copy
- Held in the private archive (provenance)
On April 14, 2013, a SynerMed employee’s laptop computer was stolen out of her vehicle while parked in front of her home. The laptop contained the protected health information (PHI) of 3,164 individuals, and included patients’ names, member identification, dates of service, reasons for visits, and procedure codes. The laptop was password protected, but was not encrypted. The covered entity (CE) provided breach notification to HHS, affected individuals, and the media, and posted substitute notice on its website. In response to this incident, the CE improved physical security, encrypted all computers, counseled the employee involved, and trained staff. It also reviewed its policies and implemented an encryption policy. OCR obtained assurances that the CE implemented the corrective actions listed above.