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Courtney Beyer, also a patient at Gundersen Lutheran, said she received a big, white envelope with the claims and charges in the mail at her home Wednesday.
Beyer said the claims included private information.
“I was very surprised, then pretty mad that I received someone’s private information,” Beyer said. “When
I discovered some Social Security numbers, I was more amazed.”
Medical center officials said staff reviewed processes Thursday and concluded the situation was an isolated event and the result of human error.
“Gundersen Lutheran has many safeguards in place to prevent a mistake like this from occurring,” the medical center said in a statement. “We file more than 45,000 claims per week, and this is the first incident like this that we know about.”
Beyer said she was concerned about the privacy of the patients and telephoned five of the 13 patients to tell them about the documents. On Thursday, Beyer called Gundersen Lutheran to report the situation. Hospital security picked up the package at her home.
The insurance claims were to be sent to Group Health Cooperative in Eau Claire, Wis. They did not include medical records.
Officials said staff contacted the 13 patients, apologized for the error and offered them
the option of free credit protection services for a year, although there is no reason to believe
the information will be misused.
“We are thankful that the individual who mistakenly received the information has brought this to light,” Gundersen Lutheran said in the statement. “When a mistake happens at Gundersen Lutheran, it is taken very seriously.”
