LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Department of Human Services says personal and health information of more than 26,000 Medicaid recipients has been breached.
DHS said Friday that the information includes Social Security numbers and Medicaid identification numbers that are on spreadsheets emailed to an employee’s home email address.
DHS said the employee was a former payment integrity coding analyst who sent the information the day before she was fired for an unrelated matter. She was later hired by the state hospital but was fired Thursday because of the breach.
The agency said it contacted the Pulaski County prosecutor for possible criminal charges.
The emails were discovered by attorneys preparing for the employee’s wrongful termination lawsuit.
The agency said it’s sending letters to affected beneficiaries and is working with attorneys to recover the spreadsheets.
Read Saturday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.