A Louisiana woman has pled guilty to a one-count bank larceny bill of information, and was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison. The charges stem from fraudulent bank transactions that occurred in August 2021.
The woman bought stolen patient information that included dates of birth, social security numbers, and addresses. She then used the stolen patient information to fraudulently obtain debit cards, which were issued by the victims’ banks. The debit cards were mailed to her, and she then used the cards to withdraw at least $200,000 from the victims’ accounts.
Her accomplices, who stole the patient information, and who also used the debit cards to withdraw money from the victims’ bank accounts, had previously pled guilty to a one-count bill of information with bank larceny. One of the accomplices was paid at least $1,000 for the illegally obtained patient information.
In addition to 15 months in federal prison, the woman was ordered to pay $205,863 in restitution, and must serve three years of supervised release after she gets out of prison.
Issue:
It is the responsibility of every facility to take the required precautions in keeping residents’ personal information as confidential as possible, to protect residents from financial abuse and exploitation. Facilities should ensure that patient information is only being accessed when it is necessary for medical or billing purposes. As identity theft rises across the country, it is important that facilities protect residents’ personal information, while keeping in mind that residents are more likely not to know that they have been a victim of identity theft.
Discussion Points:
- Review your policies and procedures on protecting residents’ personal information and preventing financial abuse and exploitation. Update your policies if needed.
- Train all staff who have access to residents’ personal information on your policies and procedures for protecting residents’ personal information. Train all staff on your policies and procedures for preventing financial abuse and exploitation. Document that these trainings occurred, and file the signed document in each employee’s education file.
- Periodically audit to ensure that staff who have access to residents’ personal information are aware of the proper procedures to follow to prevent personal information exposure. Also, periodically audit staff to ensure that they are aware of what constitutes financial abuse and exploitation, and that they know what to do if they suspect financial abuse or exploitation is occurring.
