A teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School and an associated medical practice have agreed to pay a $1.5 million fine in a breach of patient-protected health information (PHI), the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services announced Monday. HHS' Office of Civil Rights (OCR) investigated Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Associates after it reported the February 2010 theft of a laptop computer holding unencrypted data on 3,621 patients and research subjects, according to HHS. "In an age when health information is stored and transported on portable devices such as laptops, tablets and mobile phones, special attention must be paid to safeguarding the information held on these devices," OCR Director Leon Rodriguez said in a statement. --Read the full article on FierceHealthIT