The Times reported that the spreadsheet had been prepared by the contractor as part of a billing analysis for the hospital.

Student of Fortune did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident. But a spokeswoman for Student of Fortune is quoted in the Times article as saying that the site had been unaware of the data until being informed about it by the hospital at which time it promptly took the information down. The spokeswoman said the identity of the poster cannot be determined.

This is the second time in less than two years that Stanford is in the news over a data breach. In January 2010, an employee stole a computer containing protected health information on 532 patients from the hospital's heart center.

The breach resulted in the hospital getting by the California Department of Public Health for its alleged failure to notify affected victims of the breach soon enough as required under state laws. Stanford has appealed the fine contending that it acted in a manner consistent with the state's data breach reporting requirements.