On Friday, April 6, 2012, Utah health officials announced that more medical records were stolen than their original estimate of 24,000. Originally, officials estimated that 24,000 patient records had been stolen, but it turned out that 24,000 files were stolen. Each file contained hundreds of patient’s information, including Social Security numbers.
Now, officials estimate that approximately 182,000 patient records were compromised. Of those stolen records, about 25,000 Social Security numbers of children on public assistance were compromised.
The department is offering free credit monitoring for a year to anyone who had information stolen. However, children’s identity theft has become more lucrative because it can be years before the child needs his or her credit and may not realize until it is too late that the credit has been compromised. The State has partnered with TransUnion to provide a method to freeze a child’s credit until the child is old enough to use it.
What is your opinion on digitized health records?
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