No issue of FierceHealthIT would be complete without at least one report of sensitive data patient date being stolen from a healthcare facility, so here it goes: A Washington state mental health care provider, Compass Health, has notified authorities that a laptop computer containing data on an undisclosed number of patients was stolen more than a month ago. It joins our growing collection of such stories, like this one, in which millions of critical records have disappeared under unfortunate circumstances.

According to a media alert issued by Compass, the laptop contained information on clients of the clinic and its partners since October 1, 2005. The information included Social Security numbers, "along with other clinical and demographic information." The theft occurred June 28. Compass did not say why it waited so long to issue the alert. Although Compass Health did not specify if the laptop was encrypted or password-protected, it claimed that "the data could only be accessed by a skilled technician." The clinic further claimed that there was no evidence that patient information had been misused.

For more details:
- read this Consumer Affairs article