Tagged: Data Breach

Federal budget cuts impact medical research at the University of Utah, Governor Herbert appoints a new UDOT director, and last year’s health record data breach will cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars.

A new report shows that last year’s data breach of Utah health records was a costly mistake with far-reaching consequences. An independent analysis by Javelin Strategy & Research predicts that the total amount of fraud perpetrated could approach $406 million in costs. 

The Utah Department of Health says human error caused the most recent data breach, where the personal information of 6000 Medicaid clients was lost on a thumb drive. 

The mistake was made by an employee of a third-party contractor, Goold Health Systems, which processes pharmacy claims for Utah’s Medicaid program. State Health Department spokesman Tom Hudachko said the employee should never have downloaded data onto an unencrypted thumb drive. 

Utah’s new health data security ombudsman says more people are signing up for credit monitoring after a state data breach exposed the personal information of 780,000 people, but there are still parts of the population who are not protected.