In Brief: Kaiser Discloses Patient Breach; Many Plan Not To Purchase Insurance

Kaiser Discloses Breach Involving 49,000 Patients

Kaiser Permanente's Southern California division has notified approximately 49,000 patients of a potential breach of their personal data that occurred at its Anaheim hospital, the organization has disclosed.

The breach was connected to a missing flash drive used in its nuclear medicine department. The drive went missing in late September. It contained information such as patient names, their dates of birth, their Kaiser medical record numbers and some data about medications the patients had been prescribed. The drive was unencrypted.

Medical security experts note that a growing number of security breaches involving patient information have been traced to missing flash drives. Many such drives are often left plugged into medical equipment and unsecured. And while encryption is a relatively easy task to perform, it often is not undertaken on devices such as portable drives, laptops or smartphones that are used by hospital or health plan employees.

Kaiser said the patients have all been notified, as well as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which must be told of any data breaches involving 500 or more patients.

Survey: Many Plan Not To Purchase Insurance

A new survey by San Francisco-based broker InsuranceQuotes.com concluded that nearly 40% of Americans would prefer to pay a financial penalty under the Affordable Care Act rather than purchase insurance. 

The survey, which polled more than 1,000 adults in mid-November, revealed a schism between those who are considered Republicans, Democrats and Independents. Nearly three-quarters of Democrats said they would purchase coverage, compared to 40% of Republicans and 56% of independents.

However, the survey also concluded that 65% of those between the ages of 18 and 29 would purchase health insurance as opposed to 57% of those over the age of 30. 

"One of the key questions surrounding the Affordable Care Act is whether or not young Americans – especially healthy young Americans – will sign up for health insurance," said Laura Adams, insuranceQuotes.com's senior analyst. "This research sheds a positive light on that segment of the population.”

However, survey data suggested most Americans are still confused about the fines for not purchasing coverage. Only 21% were able to correctly estimate the fines for those in the middle-income and higher-income brackets.

Hospital Gets $50 Million Gift

Torrance Memorial Medical Center has received a $50 million gift from a couple living near the facility. It's the largest gift in the hospital's history.

The money, which came from real estate developers Richard and Melanie Lindquist of Palos Verdes, will be put toward the ongoing construction of a new 256-bed patient tower. That $450 million project is expected to be complete by the middle of next year, hospital officials said. The Lundquists had made a $1 million gift toward the construction project in 2011.

“This surprise gift is a game-changer for our hospital, one that will shape the future of the health we provide to the communities of the South Bay for generations to come,” said Craig Leach, Torrance Memorial's chief executive officer.