Hundreds Of Thousands Of Medicaid Records Mislaid In Pennsylvania

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Officials of Keystone Mercy Health Plan and Ameri-Health Mercy Health Plan are acknowledging that a portable computer hard drive containing personal information of some 280,000 Medicaid clients in this region has been lost.

The companies believe the device was lost somewhere in one of two corporate offices in Southwest Philadelphia or Harrisburg.

And now they are notifying those whose data -- including personal health history and parts of their Social Security numbers -- may have been on the drive.

Beth Myers, of the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, says if you are contacted or do have a relationship with the companies, you should act now to protect yourself:

"I know that both of the companies that are involved are contacting all of these people and providing instructions, and I would urge people who receive that notification to go ahead and follow up with them.  Give them a call.  Ask them: What are you doing about it? How are you finding this information? What are you doing to protect the information now?"

In cases where Social Security numbers might be attached to a client's data, the companies are offering a free year of credit monitoring.

But Myers says anyone affected by the missing data incident should be vigilant about watching their bank accounts and credit card statements anyway.

Reported by Mark Abrams, KYW Newsradio.