A criminal fraud scheme is the reason 5,300 current and past members of New York-based payer Healthfirst are being notified of a data breach.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) notified Healthfirst on May 27 that an individual may have stolen the protected health information (PHI) of Healthfirst members through the payer's online portal between April 11, 2012 and March 26, 2014.
No Social Security numbers or credit card information has been affected, according to the notice from the payer.
Healthfirst discovered it was the victim of fraud and notified the DOJ in 2013, leading to an investigation in which the perpetrator was charged with fraud. At that time, the DOJ determined the perpetrator potentially obtained PHI on Healthfirst members, according to a statement from the payer.
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.