A former employee of Arkansas Children's Hospital is under investigation in the misuse of patient information for personal gain, hospital representatives said.
Law enforcement notified the hospital's administration May 9 that the former employee was under investigation, Hilary DeMillo, senior media relations specialist for the hospital, said in a news release. DeMillo said an internal audit of the employee's accounts could not immediately confirm whether patient information had been accessed for business reasons.
Few details were released about the individual. Patients were encouraged, however, to review charges from the hospital and to contact their insurance company if they were charged for a service they did not receive.
No information about the number of patients affected or the scope of the misuse was immediately provided. Calls made to DeMillo and other members of the media relations staff were not returned Friday.
Alongside aiding in the investigation, DeMillo said the hospital has implemented "additional hiring controls" and retrained its employees on the procedures for accessing patient information.
"We were deeply troubled to learn about the alleged actions of this individual, which do not reflect the hospital's values in any way," Erin Parker, vice president of compliance, said in the news release. "As the champions for children in our community, we hold ourselves to the highest standards of behavior, and that includes treating patients, families, and each other with dignity and respect at all times."
A letter to employees of the hospital provided to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette asked employees not to speak to families or members of the media because it's under investigation and "deserves due process." The letter said the former employee "had access to sensitive patient information in order to perform the essential functions of the job, but abused this access, putting our patient families' privacy at risk."
DeMillo said the hospital has audited all accounts that had been viewed while the person was employed and has identified patients who might have been affected by the employee's action.
The hospital said it will notify patients who may have been affected, but currently cannot because of a communication hold from law enforcement investigating the former employee.
Once the hold is lifted, the hospital said it will provide one-year credit monitoring and identity protection services to those patients. The service will be available through the credit reporting agency Experian and will notify parents if their child's identity has been stolen.
Administrators also encourage parents of patients at the children's hospital to review their records to ensure all charges are legitimate.
Parents concerned about the security of their child's information can call (855) 880-9242, DeMillo said. The line is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Metro on 07/07/2018