A medical practice in East Hempfield Township is contacting nearly 12,000 of its patients to notify them that a computer was stolen from the office April 17.

The computer contained the names, addresses, telephone numbers and Social Security numbers of many of the patients who visited the office of General Internal Medicine of Lancaster, 2301 Columbia Ave., from 2005 through 2007.

The information could potentially be used to obtain credit cards and make illegal financial transactions in a patient's name.

"We're just sick about this," said practice manager Lois Summers. "We know that the computer didn't contain the information of all (12,000) patients, but we notified everyone we saw during that three-year period just to be safe."

According to Summers, office workers on April 17 were taking paper records bearing basic patient information and scanning them into a laptop computer so the records could then be transferred to a disk.

After that process was completed, the office planned to burn the paper records.

Summers said no medical information about patients was compromised.

"We have to keep the records in case an insurance company calls us, but we don't have to keep them on paper," she said.

An employee left the area where the scanning was being done for a brief period the morning of April 17. When that employee returned, Summers said, the laptop was gone.

East Hempfield Township police were notified and are investigating the theft, Summers said. Police have not told her the computer has been found, she said.

Township police officials handling the case could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.

"Obviously, this was not a secure system we had and it will never be done again in this office," Summers said. "We need a secure (computer) drive that cannot be removed from the office."

Letters were mailed by General Internal Medicine on Monday to the estimated 12,000 patients whose identification information could have been on the stolen computer.

The letters urged recipients: "To protect yourself from the possibility of identity theft, we recommend that you place a fraud alert on your credit files.

"A fraud alert lets creditors know to contact you before opening new accounts," the letter states.

It also provided information on three credit reporting agencies — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion — that can facilitate the fraud alerts.

Summers said the three companies would maintain the fraud alerts free of charge for at least 90 days. She didn't know if it would remain free for a longer period or if the companies would start charging a fee once the 90-day period expired.

Anyone with questions is urged to call General Internal Medicine at 397-2738.

E-mail: preilly@lnpnews.com