• Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., notified 34,503 patients of a potential breach of their PHI that occurred in January. An unencrypted laptop was stolen from a contractor's vehicle. The records stolen did contain patient names, addresses, Social Security numbers and diagnoses for many affected. Moreover, the hospital reported that the contractor had stopped working at Howard University Hospital in 2011 but violated policy and continued to download patient data. 

• Apria Healthcare, a Lake Forest, Calif.-based home healthcare service company, reported that in June an unencrypted laptop containing the PHI of some 64,846 patients was stolen from an employee's locked car in Phoenix. Patient names, phone numbers, Social Security numbers and possibly clinical data were contained on the laptop. 

• The University of Miami reported a July data breach after two university employees were inappropriately accessing some 64,846 patients' "face sheets," which included names, dates of birth, insurance policy numbers, partial Social Security numbers and clinical information. Moreover, in both Medicare and Medicaid insurance plans, patient Social Security numbers are used as the insurance policy number, thus, in these cases, full Social Security numbers may have been compromised. 

• Safe Ride Services, the Phoenix-based healthcare transportation company announced in February that a former employee may have accessed computer systems starting August 2011 without authorization and ultimately may have deleted service files. The said files contained both insurance information and patient demographics. Officials said the information has since been restored.