Georgia: 71,000 private records publicized

ATLANTA, April 11 (UPI) -- The personal information of up to 71,000 patients in Georgia was exposed on a Web site for nearly two months before the mistake was noticed, a spokeswoman said.

The records of Medicaid or PeachCare for Kids participants were accidentally publicized Feb. 12, said Amy Knapp, WellCare Health Plans Inc. spokeswoman.

After the company was made aware March 28 that the data was exposed, it spent five days taking it off the Internet, The New York Times reported.

Social Security numbers, birth dates and other data was accidentally posted on the Internet by a worker who was revising data for the Georgia Department of Community Health, Knapp said.

Knapp told the newspaper that WellCare Health Plans said it will provide affected patients with a year of credit protection services.

The data of Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids patients in Georgia reportedly was put at risk last April when a worker lost track of a computer disk with the information of 2.9 million residents.