The University of California San Francisco (UCSF) is alerting 4,400 patients that their medical files were potentially exposed after the November theft of an employee's laptop, which was later recovered. The files contained patients' names, medical record numbers, ages and clinical information, the San Francisco Business Times reports. Patient records from the employee's prior workplace, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, are also at risk. The university says though the patient files are vulnerable, "...there is no indication that unauthorized access to the files of the laptop actually took place." The Business Times reports tougher federal regulations on breaches of health data may be enforced as of mid-February.
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