Texas Medicaid officials, already in a legal battle with Xerox Corp. over the company’s alleged failure to prevent widespread dental fraud, filed another lawsuit Tuesday accusing Xerox of improperly taking large quantities of medical records and not protecting patients’ confidentiality.
The state Health and Human Services Commission said it filed a lawsuit in state district court in Austin seeking return of the patient data.
The commission said it also has filed a notice with federal officials that Xerox “is now out of compliance” with privacy rules under the 1996 federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
“Once again, the reckless and irresponsible actions of this company put Texas tax dollars at risk,” Kyle Janek, the state agency’s executive commissioner, said in a statement. “It really makes you wonder what they’re trying to hide.”
Xerox spokesman Kevin Lightfoot, though, said in an email that “the data represents proprietary Xerox information and was retained with the state’s knowledge.”
via Janek accuses Xerox of “reckless” misuse of Medicaid data | Dallas Morning News.