The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently notified physicians that an external hard drive that went missing in January from the VA Medical Center in Birmingham, Ala., also contained billing and demographic information for more than 1.3 million doctors nationwide. Initially, the VA indicated that the drive contained personal information on 48,000 veteran patients. Officials later learned that the missing hard drive contained sensitive personal information on nearly 200,000 patients and more than 1.3 million physicians, including 52,733 doctors in California. The VA is offering a year of free credit monitoring to those who were affected.

The missing hard drive contained physicians’ Unique Physician Identification Numbers (UPINs), state license numbers, dates of birth, business addresses, and employer identification numbers. While there have been no reported misuses of this information, physicians are urged to take steps to protect themselves from identity theft.

Affected physicians should have recently received a letter with instructions on how to take advantage of the free credit monitoring offer. The VA has established a dedicated call center to answer your questions about this issue. Call center staff can be reached by phone (888/368-0312 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Pacific time) or e-mail (call.center2@va.gov).

Click here to read the VA's press release on this issue.

Contact: Veterans Affairs Call Center, 888/368-0312 or call.center2@va.gov.