Medicare Beneficiary Data Left in Hotel
By KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press Writer
Friday, June 2, 2006
(06-02) 19:25 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --
Social Security numbers and other personal information for nearly 17,000 Medicare beneficiaries could have been compromised when an insurance company employee called up the data through a hotel computer and then failed to delete the file.
An auditor for the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general came across the information a few weeks later when using the same hotel computer in Baltimore, Medicare officials disclosed Friday.
Peter Ashkenaz, spokesman for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Service, said there is no evidence that the information fell into the wrong hands and was misused. However, the agency has instructed the insurance company, Humana Inc., to notify each of the beneficiaries involved.
The Medicare incident comes just a month after the theft of a computer containing personal information about 26.5 million veterans.
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