Cancer Center Data Breach

A cancer center in Indianapolis had a laptop stolen from one of its employees vehicle containing 55,000 patients information.  The information stolen contained medical records, socials, insurance documents, and other patient information.  The laptop had not yet been recovered.  My question is what was the backup laptop containing that kind of information doing outside the facility? Article can be found at: http://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/info-55k-patients-stolen-indianapolis-cancer-practice-083112