Data transfer errors happen and this time UNC Health Care is the victim. Confidential medical data belonging to their prenatal patients may now be in the possession of the home county health officials. Information such as results from, Social Security Numbers and many more was released unintentionally.

The Number Of Affected Patients

Based on the news release from the UNC Health Care Facility, all the women who had been there for prenatal appointments from 2014 up to 2017 have been affected. The appointment forms they filled is the one that was sent by mistake. They are about 1,300 patients believed to have filled the Pregnancy Home Risk Screening Forms for their appointments. The affected are the patients who visited UNC Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Rex, Women’s Hospital and Clinic at N.C.

The use of the forms was to gather personal information from prenatal patients who were eligible for Medicaid. The information captured is then sent to specific patient’s local departments of health. It hence makes it simple to access health services, including taking an STD Test when required.

Where The Error Occurred

The revealing of the confidential information occurred when additional forms belonging to patients who weren’t eligible for Medicaid weren’t together with the other forms. The patients visit UNC Health Care as private patients and so can take confidential STD Test without a worry given that the results remain with the facility.

It turned out that the data was released and now the local health departments are in possession of crucial information like HIV Status, reports on sexually transmitted diseases that some patients may have done, mental as well as physical health reports, and personal information like ethnicity, race, address, social security number and the names.

Protecting The Released Information

The state has given a directive to all the health departments in the county to protect the information, whether in electronic or hardcopy. To avoid such an error in the future where the privacy of patients is bleached after striving to take Private STD Testing, the procedure for form completion has been revised. The ones for Medicaid-eligible patients will only be submitted.

What’s The Next Move Now?

Now that the damage is done, UNC Health Care is working on modalities for the returning of the information on paperwork to the clinic. They should also get rid of the electronic data for the same. They have maintained that the goof won’t put any patient at financial risk. All affected patients are advised to check their credit reports and if there is any fraud, the bills for resolution services will be footed by the clinic. The fraud may occur from identity theft cases that may arise from the erroneous release of the data. 

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