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SALT LAKE CITY — The personal data of 6,000 Utahns who use Medicaid is missing. The Utah Department of Health announced Wednesday that a third-party contractor had misplaced a USB memory drive containing the information.
Representatives from the Department of Health said an employee Goold Health Systems, which processes Medicaid pharmacy transactions for the state lost the drive while on a trip to Salt Lake City.
Personal information saved on the drive includes names, Medicaid identification numbers, age and prescription drug use history, a press release stated.
"There were no Social Security numbers or financial information included in the data, so we believe the potential risk for identity theft is minimal. Further, we have no reason to believe the data were targeted by anyone to be used for malicious purposes," Utah Medicaid Director Michael Hales stated in the release.
Health department employees are working to notify all of the Medicaid users affected by the potential risk.
For more information, Medicaid clients can contact the Utah Department of Health at 1-800-662-9651, or send an email to ombudsman@utah.gov.