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Government Website Posted Private Medical Information OnlineJun-13-06 Officials in Lynchburg, Virginia acknowledged today that the personal information of 12-hundred Lynchburg citizens was posted on the city's website. The blunder follows similar breaches nationwide that put taxpayers at risk of a particularly dangerous type of identity theft known as medical identity theft.The information that was published online included personal identifiers and prescription medication information on city employees and retirees . Medical identity theft occurs when thieves use their victim’s medical information to obtain drugs, surgery or medical services. Medical identity theft can effect more than your finances. The impostor's health history can be blended with yours and result in improper treatment for you. Getting the wrong medications or having prescriptions that could interact dangerously with drugs you take could cost you your life. According to the city's Human Resources Director, the information was accidentally put online May 2, but it wasn't until two weeks later on June 4 that the mistake was discovered and removed. According to a report on WBDJ7 News, Lynchburg officials say they will be notifying everyone who was affected and will be working with the employees responsible for the security breach. The Face of Medical Identity Theft Recently a bulletin from the American Association of Retired People reported on a 60-year-old man who was a victim of medical identity theft. A career criminal on parole used the man’s identity for medical procedures. Month’s later the victim received the bill for surgery he never had. He had no medical insurance and the bill totaled $44,000.00. Meanwhile the criminal died under the victim’s name. The victim’s credit was trashed and all his credit cards were cancelled. It took over a year for the hospital to acknowledge that this was a case of medical identity theft and release the bill. Lynchburg Isn't Alone Rep. Edward J. Markey, a senior Member of the House
Energy and Commerce Committee and the Co-Chair of the Congressional Privacy
Caucus was concerned about government agencies outsourcing this information.
In 2004, he reported to congress that Indian workers at Ohio-based Heartland
Information Services, threatened to release confidential medical records
online in 2001 unless they received a cash payment from the company. In an advisory dated August 8th, 2006, Ken Schrad, Director of Virginia's Division of Information Resources announced that the State's Bureau of Insurance Website published the private information of every insurance agent licensed in the state. More than 200,000 agents were exposed. In 2006 an independent audit of Fort Bend County (TX) revealed that the county website policies could be in violation of Federal privacy laws concerning medical information filed with the county. Rather than remove the information from the county website, county officials denied public requests for the report. “People 50 and older are at the greatest risk because they often have some kind of government-issued insurance, such as Medicare or Medicaid.” said Pam Dixon of the San Diego-based World Privacy Forum. How can you protect yourself?
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