Apparatus and method for reducing read disturbed data in a non-volatile memory (NVM). Read operations applied to a first location in the NVM are counted to accumulate a read disturb count (RDC) value. Once the RDC value reaches a predetermined threshold, a flag bit is set and a first bit error statistic (BES) value is evaluated. If acceptable, the RDC value is reduced and additional read operations are applied until the RDC value reaches the predetermined threshold a second time. A second BES value is evaluated and data stored at the first location are relocated if an unacceptable number of read errors are detected by the second BES value. Different thresholds are applied to the first and second BES values so that fewer read errors are acceptable during evaluation of the second BES value as compared to the first BES value.