Report: Buford Clinic Mistakenly Sent Social Security Numbers to Stranger

A Buford pain clinic mistakenly sent the Social Security numbers of six patients to another patient, according to a report.

WSB-TV reported Buford Pain and Rehab is promising it will make things right with the patients whose personal information was compromised due to a clerical snafu.

The TV station reported a woman patient asked the center for her Medicare billing records, and was mailed printouts of six others with the names blacked out, but not the Social Security numbers.

“I was shocked,” the woman told the TV station, which tracked down and talked to at least one of the patients using the personal information.

The facility’s director said Medicare’s billing practices — which includes the Social Security number as a patient’s account number and the lumping together of patients on the same billing sheet — contributed to the mistake. An office staff member apparently was unaware the Social Security and account numbers were the same.

The director said the affected patients have been contacted. “We will do everything in our power” to make the situation right, he said.

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