The University of South Florida is investigating a protected health information data breach by an employee . The person responsible for the data breach is no longer a university employee , said Anne Baier , spokeswoman for USF Health . How the personal information involving patients treated by USF physicians at Tampa General Hospital was obtained is under investigation . Baier said 140 patients were affected by the breach . The breach was uncovered in late May when police pulled over the USF employee , identified only as a custodial worker , and searched the employees car , finding patient information such as names , dates of birth and Social Security numbers . Patients possibly affected by the security breach were notified via a letter from USF in July . This involves someone who worked at USF , not at Tampa General , said hospital spokesman John Dunn . It is TGHs policy in cases of patient data breaches to provide a year of free credit monitoring for the people affected , he said . In the letter to patients involved in the data breach , Patricia J. Bickel , USFs compliance and privacy officer at USF Health , recommended people place fraud alerts on credit files and take other precautions to prevent identity theft , false tax returns and other potential problems . USF officials have not received any indication that the patients information has been used by an unauthorized person , Baier said . The records came from the billing department of the USF Physicians Group inside the USF Health Faculty Office Building . ;