Former hospital employee denies taking records

The former Mills-Peninsula Health Services mailroom employee accused of bringing home 1,500 patient records pleaded not guilty yesterday to a misdemeanor charge of embezzlement.

Katherine Asimos, 49, appeared in court Monday for the first time since prosecutors filed charges following the hospital’s discovery of the breach.

Asimos is also charged with five counts of forgery and one count of elder fiscal abuse for allegedly writing checks on her elderly father’s account, said District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

She asked for a court-appointed attorney and, after entering her plea, was set for jury trial Feb. 21.

Asimos allegedly took the documents between November 2009 and September 2010 while working for the Burlingame-based hospital. The majority were medical reports or X-rays and registration information destined for delivery to physician offices. Most had patient names and diagnostic test results but 15 also included addresses and Social Security numbers.

Hospital officials said they learned of the taking June 17 when Asimos’ brother discovered the documents while helping her move and returned them to the hospital. Asimos was terminated.

Asimos reportedly told authorities she was overwhelmed with sorting the documents at work and brought them home with plans to shred them later.

All of the patients whose information was taken were notified and the hospital offered free credit monitoring and identity protection.

Asimos remains free from custody on her own recognizance and returns to court Feb. 1 for a pretrial conference.

She did not return a call for comment.