On December 8, 2023, UnitedHealthcare Services Inc. (“UHC”) filed a notice of data breach with the Attorney General of Montana after discovering that an unauthorized party was able to access an email account belonging to Equality Health, an Accountable Care Organization that serves some UHC members. In this notice, UHC explains that the incident resulted in an unauthorized party being able to access consumers’ sensitive information, which includes their names, dates of birth, genders, addresses, Social Security numbers, UHC member ID numbers, Medicare ID numbers, Medicare plan information, and primary care provider information. Upon completing its investigation, UHC began sending out data breach notification letters to all individuals whose information was affected by the recent data security incident.
If you receive a data breach notification from UnitedHealthcare discussing an incident at Equality Health, it is essential you understand what is at risk and what you can do about it. A data breach lawyer can help you learn more about how to protect yourself from becoming a victim of fraud or identity theft, as well as discuss your legal options following the UnitedHealthcare / Equality Health data breach. For more information, please see our recent piece on the topic here.
What Caused the Data Breach Affecting UnitedHealthcare Patients?
The UnitedHealthcare / Equality Health data breach was only recently announced, and more information is expected soon. However, UHC’s filing with the Attorney General of Montana provides some important information on what led up to the breach. According to this source, on October 16, 2023, UHC was notified by Equality Health that an unauthorized party was able to access an Equality Health email account between April 11, 2023 and April 12, 2023.
According to the UHC letter, the incident occurred because of an employee error and a previous mistake. Evidently, in September 2020, a UHC employee sent patient information to an Equality Health employee when attempting to confirm whether the patient’s primary care doctor was in Equality Health’s network. This was a mistake, as the UHC employee should not have included the patient’s information in the email.
After learning that sensitive consumer data was accessible to an unauthorized party, UnitedHealthcare reviewed the compromised files to determine what information was leaked and which consumers were impacted. While the breached information varies depending on the individual, it may include your name, date of birth, gender, address, Social Security number, UHC member ID number, Medicare ID number, Medicare plan information, and primary care provider information.
On December 8, 2023, UnitedHealthcare sent out data breach letters to anyone who was affected by the recent data security incident. These letters should provide victims with a list of what information belonging to them was compromised. Note that the incident did not involve unauthorized access to UHC’s computer network.
More Information About UnitedHealthcare Services, Inc.
UnitedHealthcare Services, Inc. is a major healthcare system headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota. UHC provides insurance services under “UnitedHealthcare” and healthcare products under the name “Optum.” UHC is the largest insurance company, based on annual premiums, and the eleventh largest company in the world. UnitedHealthcare employs more than 125,000 people and generates approximately $257 billion in annual revenue.
