The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center is advising 12,000 patients to guard against fraud after a former employee was found in possession of a limited amount of patient billing data, says a Dallas Morning News report.

Authorities discovered in September that a cashier in the finance department had billing and insurance information from 21 patients. The hospital alerted those patients by phone. In all, hospital officials say, the employee may have compromised the billing or insurance information of as many as 200 patients. She did not have access to medical records, the report said.

 

The hospital advised patients who received the letter to monitor their credit and consider placing their accounts under fraud detection alerts. In its letter, the hospital said it would provide concerned parties free credit monitoring services for up to a year.