In addition to billing fraud the employee didn’t bother to pay his taxes either, which could be an inconvenience to bring attention from the IRS if you are obtaining your money illegally.  Over 1000 patients received letters. Since this time the hospital recently announced the completion of switching over the the Epic accounting software suite and with audit trails and other data information, it will be much more difficult for employees to be able to move and records from the hospital when they are paperless.

Patient files and records for billing were found at his residence.  This also makes a good case for limiting the amount of paper you have around.

A former Cedars-Sinai Medical Center employee was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty Monday to stealing patient information to defraud insurance firms of $354,000.

The formerer employee, James Allen Wilson, worked in the billing department from 2003 to 2007, 4 years with access to records.

12 patients had amounts billed for $1.3 million for treatment that was never provided, and they were all the Los Angeles School District.

The affected companies included Sedgwick CMS, Specialty Risk Services, Continental Casualty Co., Liberty Mutual, Southern California Regional Management, Travelers and Zurich Insurance.

Wilson, 45, of Los Angeles, pleaded guilty to one count each of identity theft, insurance fraud and grand theft, along with two counts of failure to file income tax returns in 2005 and 2007, Derzaph said in a statement.

In addition, Superior Court Judge Samuel Mayerson ordered Wilson to pay $354,000 in restitution to the school district, which paid for treatment employees never received, and $62,000 in back taxes and penalties to the state Franchise Tax Board, authorities said.