Data entry error causes La. breach
A data entry error in March caused a data breach affecting 8,330 patients of Louisiana State University Health System in Shreveport.
The error caused patients to receive bills with incorrect information. The error was made on March 11 at Siemens Healthcare, which conducts physician billing services for LSU Health. The university learned of problems when it started getting phone calls from patients on March 18, according to a joint notification from Siemens and LSU.
“After an investigation, it was discovered that an error had occurred in one computer data entry field,” the notice read. “When printing statements March 11, 2013, this error caused the names and treatment information for one patient to incorrectly align with another person’s mailing address.”
The organization does not believe financial information was compromised as no Social Security numbers, financial account numbers or dates of birth were in the erroneous billings, which have been corrected. Notification letters were mailed on May 15.
Earlier this year, LSU Health experienced a breach as a result of a former billing department employee who was charged with 377 counts of identity theft. The health system notified 416 patients that their checking account numbers and other personal information were stolen after a hospital employee reported counterfeit checks totaling $2,500 were written on her account.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.