Massachusetts students at risk following Medicaid billing company data breach

Multi-State Billing Services, a company that partners with schools to help them manage Medicaid services, agreed to pay the state of Massachusetts $100,000 to resolve claims it put the identity of nearly 2,618 students at risk when one of its laptops was stolen in 2014, the company's attorney confirmed to Becker's Hospital Review.

Speaking on behalf of Multi-State Billing Services, Cameron Shilling, the company's lawyer from the firm McLane Middleton, explained an unencrypted laptop had been stolen from the back of a vehicle in 2014. At the time of the theft, the company wasn't aware the laptop contained any sensitive information, but later learned it was connected to an account that included the names, Social Security numbers and in some cases Medicaid billing numbers of Massachusetts students from 13 school districts. Since the incident, there has been no evidence any information has been compromised.

According to Mr. Shilling, the incident had been considered more of a property theft than anything else, but out of an abundance of caution, Multi-State notified the affected individuals and took necessary precautions.

"In the world we live in when there is a potential compromise the right thing is to let people know," he says. That included providing credit monitoring and freezing accounts for customers at the time of the theft, according to Cape Cod Times.

Last week, Multi-State Billing Services entered into a $100,000 settlement with the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey to resolve the allegations. The company will also be required to train employees on how to protect client privacy.

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