An indictment filed in a U.S. district court in Tampa, Fla., alleges an administrative employee of the Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition clinic worked with two other individuals to commit tax, mail, wire, access device fraud and identity theft, Healthcare Info Security reports.
Here's what you need to know.
1. The accused allegedly obtained and stole personal identifiable information from the clinic and other sources. Patient names, birthdays and Social Security numbers is among the stolen data.
The stolen data includes that of current and former patients and their parents or guardians.
2. The accused allegedly used the data to apply for credit cards from various financial services. They then used the cards at retailers or at ATMs.
3. The personal data was also allegedly used to file income tax returns.
4. The court records do not provide an estimated dollar value.
5. The accused allegedly have data for 13,000 patients.
6. Since the incident, the clinic reviewed policies and retrained staff on HIPAA. It also "implemented physical security procedures to reduce the risk of unauthorized access to printed documents and implemented role based access procedures to limit access to PHI."
The clinic also have implemented a random background check policy, and has fired the accused administrative worker.
7. The U.S. Attorney's Office is not pursuing any HIPAA related charges.
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