Marshall Allen reports on the latest development in a UMC breach discussed on this site in the past:
A man was indicted today by a federal grand jury in an alleged conspiracy to pay a University Medical Center employee for private information about traffic accident victims that was used to drum up clients.
The indictment is the outcome of an FBI probe that was launched in response to a Las Vegas Sun investigation that exposed the privacy breach at UMC.
Richard W. Charette, 54, of Las Vegas, was indicted on one count of conspiracy to illegally disclose personal health information, in violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, better known as HIPAA, the United States Attorneys office said in a press release.
Between January and November 19, 2009 — the day before the Sun’s first story — Charette allegedly conspired with people, including a UMC employee, to use hospital “face sheets” to solicit personal injury cases for attorneys.
The UMC employee faxed the registration sheets of trauma patients to Charette on at least 55 occasions and was paid about $8,000, the indictment said.
Read more in the Las Vegas Sun.
Kudos to the Las Vegas Sun for staying with this breach and exposing it.