ATLANTA — Kroger announced Monday that a box of pharmacy records was lost.
They said in late July, a records management service, Retrievex, Inc., the company’s business associate, shipped a box of pharmacy records to the Woodstock Kroger via a third-party common carrier.
Retrievex confirmed with the carrier that the box was lost in transit on Sept. 11, 2019 and concluded an internal investigation on Oct. 4, Kroger said. They formally shared the results with Kroger on Oct. 14.
The box contained drive-thru signature logs, which may have contained the patient’s first and last name, prescription number and potentially the third-party billing processor name.
“We sincerely apologize that this incident occurred and regret any inconvenience or concern this may cause our customers,” said Felix Turner, manager of corporate affairs for Kroger’s Atlanta Division. “We take the privacy of our customers very seriously and are committed to creating additional safeguards to prevent a similar isolated event from recurring.”
Upon learning of this incident, Kroger worked with Retrievex to reinforce processes and procedures within both companies for shipping boxes containing protected health information. Kroger is also revising its procedures to include additional restrictions to minimize the risk of such incidents from occurring in the future.
Kroger has not received any indication that the information has been misused as a result of this incident. However, customers are encouraged to review statements they receive from their health plans and immediately alert their plan if they notice any service or medication that they did not receive or order.
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