update: 850, 000 doctors could be hit by potential data breach from insurer's stolen laptop

[lyger <lyger () attrition org>]

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2009/10/05/bisd1006.htm

A file containing identifying information for every physician in the 
country contracted with a Blues-affiliated insurance plan was on a laptop 
computer stolen from a BlueCross BlueShield Assn. employee. It is not yet 
known whether any identity theft has resulted from the data breach.

The file included the name, address, tax identification number and 
national provider identifier number for about 850,000 doctors, Jeff 
Smokler, spokesman for the Chicago-based Blues association, said Oct. 6. 
That number represents every physician who is part of the BlueCard 
network, which allows Blues members to access networks in other states, 
Smokler said.

Some 16% to 22% of those physicians listed -- as many as 187,000 -- used 
their Social Security numbers as a tax ID or NPI number, Smokler said.

[...]
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