Cedars Sinai Hospital is one of the best hospitals in Los Angeles and for that matter in the rest of the country. It has a sparkling reputation, one well worth preserving. But when a former employee with access to medical records uses that database to bilk insurance companies, this poses a serious public relations issue. It can also provoke lawsuits from angry patients who had their identities stolen for illegitimate purposes.
According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, a former Cedars Sinai employee bilked insurance companies for some $69,000 by making false claims, using the stolen data of Cedars patients. The former employee took advantage of the computerized system to steal and profit from the data and from the position to which he had been entrusted.
This was not some employee who had not permissible access to the data. This was someone who illegally used data to which he had legitimate access. To counter the privacy breach, Cedars has applied more security to its computerized system. But security only goes so far.
That is why you need to run background checks on all your employment candidates. There are no guarantees you will eliminate all threats, but preemployment screening goes a long way to help eliminate the obvious threats. It also pays to run enough background searches so that you can discern a behavior pattern. In this economic downturn it is particularly necessary since employees in desperation are more prone to indulge in illegitimate activity.
Some companies run period employment background checks on their current workers. this is becoming an increasingly common practice. Because the few bucks you spend running background checks is a lot cheaper than the loss of proprietary information, the resulting lawsuits and the public embarrassment theft will cause.
Check them out before you hire.
