Government Healthcare Policy, Business and Technology

Senators Probe HHS About Efforts to Mitigate Medical Identity Theft

Healthcare Informatics: Citing the growing number of data breaches at healthcare organizations, four U.S. Senators are asking the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) what the agency is doing to mitigate medical identity theft.

The letter, which is addressed to Andy Slavitt, acting administrator for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Jocelyn Samuels, director of the Office of Civil Rights, both within HHS, calls attention to major recent cyberattacks such as Anthem, Premera Blue Cross, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield and UCLA Health System, which affected up to 105 million people. In the letter, the Senators state that sizeable and damaging breaches continue as a result of traditional threats, including unauthorized access and disclosure and loss or theft of laptops.

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