Yuma Fire Department Notice of Data Breach

03/06/2013 | Rod Reed, Fire Battalion Chief

The City of Yuma contracts with Advanced Data Processing, Inc. (ADPI) to perform billing activities associated with ambulance service provided by the City of Yuma Fire Department. In October of last year ADPI learned that one of their employees had improperly accessed personal information from several ADPI clients, including the City of Yuma. Please understand that no City of Yuma employees were involved in the breach of personal information. ADPI and the City of Yuma sent letters out to all effected ambulance service customers, however some letters were returned undeliverable. In the case of undeliverable notices, federal guidelines require that healthcare providers pursue an alternate remedy, one of which is to post a conspicuous notice for at least 90 days on the homepage of the covered entity (City). If you would like further information, including whether you were one of the customers we were unable to contact, please call 928-373-4864. Please see ADPI's letter below for additional details and remedies available to effected ambulance customers.

Please note that the links in the following notice are NOT part of the City of Yuma official website.

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This notice is provided by City of Yuma Fire Department (the "Ambulance Agency") concerning a data beach incident affecting records of a number of Ambulance Agency patients. Advanced Data Processing, Inc. (the "Company") manages billing for the Ambulance Agency and on October 1, 2012 the Company learned that one of its employees improperly accessed and disclosed certain patient account information in connection with a scheme to file false federal tax returns. Accessed account information included name, date of birth, Social Security number and record identifier, but no medical information was accessed.

The employee was apprehended by authorities, immediately terminated by the Company and no longer has access to Company systems. The Company also thoroughly investigated the matter. To help minimize the risk of future data breaches, the Company is making its employees aware of this incident and the consequences to the individual involved and reminding its employees of the importance of maintaining the security and confidentiality of individual records.

If you have reason to believe that your information is being misused, you should contact local law enforcement and file a police report. If you believe a tax return has been illegally filed using your information you should contact your local IRS Service Center or call the IRS at 1-800-908-4490. We advise you to remain vigilant and monitor your credit reports periodically. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months. To order, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call 1-877-322-8228. You may also choose to enroll in a free credit monitoring service.

You may call representatives of the Company at 1-877-264-9622 Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern, if you have any questions regarding this matter.