DJO Global reported a potential breach of patient information that affects patients who underwent surgery with their products at Las Vegas-based St. Rose Dominican Hospital between July 17 and Oct. 16, 2017.
Here are five things to know:
1. The patients receiving treatment at the hospital's emergency room, same day surgery center and urgent care sites may have been affected. The patients may have filled out and signed the DJO Global Patient Product Agreement form to acknowledge they received a DJO product, and a DJO employee then retrieved the form to mail to DJO, but some forms mailed during that time were lost in transit.
2. The forms may have been lost between the DJO vender picking them up from the hospital and dropping them off at FedEx.
3. DJO sent notification to impacted individuals and made the breach public on its website, in accordance with HIPAA. The company originally discovered the breach Sept. 25, 2017 and published the notification on the company website Jan. 5, 2018.
4. While there isn't any evidence that personal information has been stolen or misused, the forms may contain sensitive information including the patient's name, address, phone numbers and physician information. The forms also may include health plan identification numbers, which may incorporate social security numbers.
5. DJO advised affected individuals to place a 90-day fraud alert on their credit file and review their explanation of benefits statements. DJO is offering those individuals complementary credit monitoring services.