Louisiana Healthcare Connections, a Bayou Health network for the state's Medicaid population, received notification of an investigation of stolen health information.
The Louisiana Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit informed LHCC of the investigation on Dec. 3, 2015. The investigation traces back to an incident on March, 3, 2015, in which a physician's office employee used someone else's information to gain access to the LHCC provider website. That individual then downloaded a list of the office's LHCC patients and shared the information with another provider, according to the notice posted on the LHCC website. The stolen information related to approximately 13,000 Medicare beneficiaries.
Compromised information includes member names, Medicaid ID number, date of birth, phone number, address and Medicaid effective date. Credit card information, financial information and Social Security numbers were not included.
The Louisiana Attorney General's office announced the arrest of the individual on Jan. 27.
LHCC is notifying affected individuals via email, as well as offering free identity theft protection and credit monitoring services.