Social Security Numbers Printed on Envelopes
Approximately 2,000 medical bills have recently been posted to East Texas addresses with patients’ Social Security numbers visible on the envelope. The private record exposure was caused by a a technical glitch in the billing system used by the collection agency the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler had contracted.
Chief Operating Officer Rob Marshall at UTHSCT said to TylerPaper that the problem was quickly addressed and fixed, but that he was deeply disappointed in collection agency CBE Group Inc.
“We’re in negotiations … I can’t confirm or deny that we’ll be with (CBE) in the future,” he said Tuesday evening. “But we do have a different set of rules on handling issues like this and have already said how to safeguard this in the future.”
