Crime & Safety

Possible Leak of Patient Info from Alta Bates, 2 Other Hospitals

Letters have been sent to 4,500 patients from three East Bay hospitals – Alta Bates Summit, Sutter Delta and Eden – informing them of a possible security breach of personal information, including Social Security numbers, birth dates and addresses.

Sutter Health has sent letters to about 4,500 patients from three of its East Bay hospitals alerting them to a possible leak of personal information that may have included names, birth dates, addresses and Social Security numbers.

The patients are being offered free credit-monitoring services and provided with a phone number to call – 1-888-414-8020 – if they believe they may have been affected, according to a notice on the Sutter Health East Bay website.

The Alameda County Sheriff's Office informed one of the three hospitals that it had recovered information about approximately 4,500 people in the course of "an unrelated investigation," according to Sutter Health.

Letters to the patients were sent in June, said Carolyn Kemp, a spokeswoman for Sutter Health East Bay. The health chain also issued a press release dated June 7 about the incident, she said.

On July 2, Albany police were contacted by a resident on Madison who reported being "one of the many customers with Sutter Health whose personal information was leaked and has now received a letter," according to the Albany police call log.

Details of the leak were not disclosed.

"We do not know what law enforcement was investigating when they obtained this information," the Sutter Health statement said. "The information may have originated from Sutter Health’s Alta Bates Summit, Sutter Delta or Eden medical centers, and may have included a patient’s name, Social Security number, date of birth, gender, address, zip code, home phone number, marital status, name of employer and work phone number."

Kemp and Stacey Wells, another spokeswoman for Sutter Health East Bay, said they were not able to provide further information about the incident.

Patch has requested more information from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.