Calif. breach impacts physicians

Breaches of personal health information are happening every week but it's not often that the main victims are clinicians rather than patients.

About 5,800 doctors at Anthem Blue Cross of California are being notified that their personal information was mistakenly posted online. When PDF documents were posted on the Anthem website for more than 24 hours in October, the physicians' names, business addresses, tax identification numbers and Social Security numbers were revealed.

“Appropriate corrective actions have been implemented, and process improvements for posting provider data online have been reviewed with the team," said Cindy Wakefield, an Anthem spokesperson.

Beth Walsh,

Editor

Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.

Around the web

The tirzepatide shortage that first began in 2022 has been resolved. Drug companies distributing compounded versions of the popular drug now have two to three more months to distribute their remaining supply.

The 24 members of the House Task Force on AI—12 reps from each party—have posted a 253-page report detailing their bipartisan vision for encouraging innovation while minimizing risks. 

Merck sent Hansoh Pharma, a Chinese biopharmaceutical company, an upfront payment of $112 million to license a new investigational GLP-1 receptor agonist. There could be many more payments to come if certain milestones are met.