Six hard drives containing personal and health information on clients of health insurance company Centene Corp. have gone missing.
How many victims? 950,000
What type of information? Social Security numbers, birthdates, health data, names, addresses, and insurance identification numbers for 950,000 patients who received laboratory services between 2009-2015.
What happened? Six hard drives remain unaccounted for after the health insurer conducted an inventory of information technology assets.
What was the response? Chairman, President and CEO Michael F. Neidorff said in a statement that the company is "notifying all affected individuals and all appropriate regulatory agencies while it continues its investigation." Centene will offer free credit and healthcare monitoring to those affected. The company continues to search for the drives and is "reinforcing and reviewing its procedures related to managing its IT assets."
Details? Niedorff said, "the drives were a part of a data project using laboratory results to improve the health outcomes of [Centene's] members." The company doesn't believe information on the drive "has been used inappropriately."
Source: Centene Corp.
