Personal Health Information Compromised - Here We Go..

PHI - a big buzz word in my industry. It means personal health information. Many carriers are trying to help insureds have access to this on-line. A single source to store information about one's health, immunizations, conditions, allergies, etc. Kaiser Healthplan actually does this inside of their captive staff model HMO environment very well. Other healthplans, such as Anthem and Healthnet, are partnering with other companies to try and capture this data for their insureds. It's not a bad idea. I rather like a single source not only for myself but my other family members. In the event of an emergency, this is very valuable info for a medical provider to have (however, most don't know where and how to look for it so getting in on line is really on the first step - but that's a different discussion).

Now the problem - Wellpoint, parent company of Anthem Blue Cross, just released information to the fact that over 130,000 members had their personal health records hacked into and social security numbers and prescription information may have been compromised. Now, we all know that middle age people in their boxer shorts sit home all day in mom's basement trying to hack into anything that they can for kicks but someone has to stop this. Personal data of any type needs to be safe and out of the hands of those that might use it against us. In order for the carriers to continue to promote this type of information, they are going to have to do a better job of making sure that people that we don't want to see this information, can't!