Hackers affect 60K state insurance plan members
Hackers were able to access a state insurance plan subcontractor's computer system for three months, putting thousands of plan members' records at risk.
Even after discovering the breach in April, plan officials did not notify the individuals affected for another four months.
Dallas-based Onsite Health Diagnostics (OHD), a medical testing and screening company, contracts with the state of Tennessee's wellness plan. The company notified 60,582 people that their protected health information was accessed and stored by an "unknown source." The breach affected members from the Tennessee's State Insurance Plan, Local Government Insurance Plan and Local Education Insurance plan.
The company said the system accessed hadn't been in official use since fall 2013. Health benefit member names, dates of birth, addresses, emails, phone numbers and gender were compromised in the incident.
A member notification letter read, "We are sorry for any inconvenience or concern that this may have caused you. OHD has received no reports of identity theft related to this incident. We take the security of your personal information very seriously." Kyle Alexander, Onsite Health Diagnostics CEO, signed the letter.
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.