Florida hospital employee's tax fraud efforts impacts 10K
A Florida hospital has notified approximately 10,000 patients that their protected health information (PHI) and Social Security numbers may have been inappropriately accessed by a former employee for tax fraud purposes.
Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale is part of the Catholic Health East health system. The facility announced that the employee accessed patient records from November 2011 to August 2013. Data accessed included patient names, dates of birth, addresses and Social Security numbers.
"The hospital’s investigation indicated that the employee may have intended to utilize the information in filing fraudulent tax returns," according to a company notice. "The employee was terminated, and efforts are underway to prosecute this individual to the fullest extent possible."
This is the second breach for Holy Cross Hospital, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services. In 2010, hospital employees stole Social Security numbers and PHI of 1,500 patients but because the 1,500 patients could not be identified, officials ended up notifying 44,000 patients of a potential breach involving their PHI.
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.