North Carolina Government Might Have Exposed Information on Medicaid Patients

The state Department of Health and Human Services says an agency employee "inadvertently sent an email to the Granville County Health Department without first encrypting it."

The agency mailed out notification letters to affected patients on Oct. 16. The security lapse happened on Aug. 19. Government officials said that a delay was necessary because the department "must investigate thoroughly and ensure there is full understanding before determining next steps."

The email contained a spreadsheet with each patient's first and last name, Medicaid identification number, provider name and provider ID number, and other information related to Medicaid services. The data also included two Social Security number, belonging to patients who use them as Medicaid ID numbers.

The agency says that it "cannot determine for certain that the email was not intercepted during transmission over the Internet but has no reason to believe any information was compromised."