DOW JONES NEWSWIRES Express Scripts Inc. (ESRX) said a small number of its clients have received written threats to expose their personal information.
The pharmacy-benefits management company said the threats are believed to be connected to a written extortion threat the company made public last week, which is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The letter included personal information of 75 members, including their names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and prescription information. Those members have been notified.
Express Scripts said the FBI has been informed of the new threats and the company also is establishing a $1 million reward for information resulting in the arrest and conviction of those responsible.
Separately, the company said it has contracted with data-security firm Kroll Inc. to offer assistance to any members who become victims of identity theft as a result of the incident. Kroll is a subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Cos. (MMC).
Earlier this year, there was a spate of security lapses at hospitals, health insurers and the federal government, in which private information on hundreds of thousands of patients, ranging from Social Security numbers to fertility-treatment and cancer records, was compromised.
The incidents included the theft of an unencrypted laptop from an employee of the National Institutes of Health and the inadvertent posting of personal data unsecured on the Web from insurers WellCare Health Plans Inc. (WCG) and WellPoint Inc. (WLP). At the UCLA Hospital System, several employees were fired or disciplined for sneaking peeks at Britney Spears' computerized medical files.
The steady stream of privacy breaches threatens to undermine the health-care industry's effort to adopt electronic medical records. That push is meant to make medical care safer and more convenient for patients, but a major barrier to health-care digitization has been anxiety about preserving the security of such sensitive data.
Express Scripts also has created a Web site for members to obtain information about the incident and to find resources and information to help protect themselves against the possibility of identity theft. The Web site is www.esisupports.com.
-By Tess Stynes and Kathy Shwiff, Dow Jones Newswires 201-938-2473; tess.stynes@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 11, 2008 16:47 ET (21:47 GMT)

Publié le 11 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones