On the heels of the Medicaid data server hack in Utah, the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SCDHHS) recently discovered that a Medicaid employee inappropriately transferred personal information for 228,435 Medicaid beneficiaries to his personal email account. This incident, the agency says, constitutes a violation of agency policy.

SCDHHS says it contacted the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division to investigate the incident and also informed other state and federal agencies. The employee was terminated last week, according to the organization. For affected beneficiaries, SCDHHS is offering free services to protect them from possible identity theft.  They will receive a letter from SCDHHS with further instructions, not a phone call.