The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services has notified up to 15,000 patients of its psychiatric hospital (New Hampshire Hospital) that their names, addresses, Social Security numbers, Medicaid ID numbers and highly sensitive psychiatric health information was posted on a social media site by a former patient.

The former patient gained access to the information through a laptop located in the hospital library in 2015. Although he was seen accessing non-confidential information by a staff member, there was no indication at that time that patient data was available on the laptop.

Months later it was discovered that the patient had posted the information of patients on a social media site and an investigation was launched. Patients who received services prior to November of 2015 may have been affected.