Hospital workers access patient data with fraud in mind

Thousands of patients of Memorial Healthcare System in Hollywood, Fla. may be at risk for identity theft after two former employees improperly accessed their records.

How many victims? 9,500.

What type of personal information? Names, Social Security numbers and birth dates.

What happened? The two workers, who have since been fired, got access to the records with the intention of possibly using the information to file false tax returns.

What was the response? The system, made up of five hospitals in Broward County, is notifying victims and offering them one year of free credit monitoring. In addition, officials are looking to tighten security in light of the breach.

Source: miamiherald.com, The Miami Herald, "Two Memorial Healthcare System employees fired over information breach," April 12, 2012.