The theft of a laptop computer from the vehicle of an Oceans Acquisitions employee has resulted in the protected health information of 659 patients from the Abilene region of tx beingness exposed. in may 2015, Oceans Acquisitions confirmed that all portable devices, including laptop computers, had sensitive data encrypted. in the event of theft or loss of a device, all PHI stored on that device would be protected. The encryption would foreclose any unauthorized individual from being able to access stored data. However, the laptop theft occurred on April 9, 2015, a month before Oceans Acquisitions ascertained that all devices were protected. piece the healthcare provider believed the laptop computer theft did not station any data at risk of exposure, this has turned out not to be the case. According to a interchange hack notice issued on February 2, 2016, Oceans Acquisitions determined that the laptop in head did contain the PHI of 659 individuals, and that those patients potentially had their PHI exposed. This came to illumine during an unrelated systems review, which was not linked to the laptop computer theft. The data were stored in an email account that could live accessed through the computer. The data exposed included names of patients, medical record numbers, dates of birth, payer information, medical diagnoses, and admission dates. no financial information, insurance data, or social security numbers were stored in the email account or on the laptop.More Information: http://www.hipaajournal.com/oceans-acquisitions-laptop-theft-data-hack...