District Medical Group in Arizona reported that 616 patients had PHI involved in a breach that occurred on March 1 , 2014 . A statement on their web site explains : [ _ ] On October 24 , 2014 , we became aware that patient information was made potentially accessible on the Internet . We immediately began an investigation and learned that an employee used a thumb drive while working at home that contained patient billing information . While working from home , the employee connected the thumb drive to the home network , and a security vulnerability made the contents of the thumb drive accessible from the Internet . While connected , the documents and information on the drive could be located through a search engine , such as Google . The thumb drive included patients names , dates of service , names of department where the patients were treated , refund amounts , and in some instances social security numbers . Credit card and banking information were not included on the thumb drive . After we found out about this incident , we promptly took steps to remove the information from the Internet , including working to ensure the documents are no longer available through a search engine . While we have no reason to believe that patient information has been used in any way , out of an abundance of caution , we began sending letters to affected patients on December 12 , 2014 , and have established a dedicated call center to answer any questions they may have . If you believe you are affected but do not receive a letter by January 5 , please call 1 - 888 - 266 - 9280 , Monday through Friday from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM Mountain Time . We deeply regret any inconvenience it may cause our patients . To help prevent something like this from happening in the future , we have taken a number of actions , including providing education to the involved employee and re - educating all employees regarding the protection of sensitive information . In addition DMG is reviewing and updating pertinent policies and procedures regarding data privacy and security . ;