-->(2 of 2)
"We certainly feel for the folks who put in a claim," she said. "This is vital information. It is troubling. This also means their claims are delayed."
Scott Butler, an administrator for the Howell Allen Clinic in Nashville, said he was unaware that the office had faxed a patient's information to the wrong site.
The state contacted Butler, he said, on Friday afternoon about the possibility of changing to electronic medical records to avoid privacy issues. Butler, however, said the state should've been more diligent, informing medical staffs of the mistake when it happened.
"My concern is two-fold," Butler said. "Why not notify us as soon as you know this is going on? Why didn't you tell me this two years ago? And our other concern is with the HIPAA (federal privacy law) side of it."
Doctors' offices in Nashville, Johnson City and Germantown are among the many that sent medical information to the wrong place.
Dr. Susan Pick's office in Crossville accidentally sent a 12-page medical record on a patient. Pick did not return a call; however, her office informed the patient of the problem.
Some of the medical records also include family medical history. Children were also part of the faxing error. A 2-year-old patient at Centennial Pediatrics in Nashville had his record sent to Indiana.
"It's mind-boggling," said office manager Deborah Sparks.
Not the first time
Middle Tennessee has had its share of major security breaches.
In April, 18,541 Metro Nashville students had their Social Security numbers available online for several months.
In late 2007, a homeless man was arrested for stealing and selling Election Commission laptops carrying voter information that included Social Security numbers. Police eventually recovered the laptops.
A Williamson County parent discovered that a school employee posted more than 5,000 students' Social Security numbers to a personal Web site.
A Tennessee State University student took a flash drive with personal information of 9,000 current and former TSU students. The student, who planned to use it for a class paper, returned it.
With security breaches becoming commonplace, having medical records falling into the wrong hands can add to the identify theft problem, said Nashville Assistant U.S. Attorney John Webb, an expert on identity theft.
Webb said identity thieves target places like hospitals, doctor's offices, businesses and insurance companies. A thief can receive treatment under someone else's name and also steal their identity, he said.
The security breach with Tennessee patients should be dealt with in a hurry, he said.
"You have to identify who they were and disclose this information," Webb said. "Even if it is inadvertent, it's pretty bad. The dissemination of patient information … the laws are pretty strict."
Apparently, the Tennessee Department of Human Services did not reach every doctors' office by late afternoon.
As Keith was leaving the office, his fax machine was ringing from a medical office in Crossville.
what i want to know is WHO is going to act first?
i do hope this reporter contacts me... because there is a LOT more to this story.
@ElyssaD
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