Florida breach may be due to employee ties to identity theft ring
The Office of the State Attorney, the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Secret Service allege a University of Florida (UF) employee acquired patient insurance information, including names, addresses, dates of birth and Social Security numbers, and may have sold some of the information to a third party.
The employee has been terminated and may face criminal charges.
The university learned of the alleged incident from state and federal law enforcement officials on Oct. 25, when an identity theft ring that targeted several hospitals and health clinics in the state of Florida was uncovered. Law enforcement prohibited UF from notifying patients until the criminal investigation was completed.
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.