Anthem Blue Cross sends emails with PHI in subject line

Some patients insured by Anthem Blue Cross in California received emails from the payer that included some protected health information in the subject line, according to The New York Times.

The emails were allegedly reminding patients to visit their physicians for checkups or to discuss screening tests, but the subject line displayed clinical and demographic data about the patient, such as age range, language and recommendations for medical screening tests, according to the report.

The report does not indicate how many patients may have received such emails.

According to the report, it is unclear if the emails containing PHI in the subject lines will require a breach notification.

More articles on data breaches:

Bon Secours Health System reports data breach from unauthorized access by former employee 
Highmark subsidiary reports data breach affecting 75k patients 
6 considerations for a hospital’s playbook to combat data breaches 

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