Producer News

Friday, April 10, 2015

Premera cyber-attack update – April 9, 2015

Premera, a health plan in the Pacific Northwest, previously announced a cyber-attack resulting in unauthorized access to Premera’s information technology (IT) system. The attack affects all of Premera’s health plans, including Premera BlueCross and LifeWise.

Some Regence members affected
Some members of other Blue Cross Blue Shield plans, including Regence, have also been affected. That’s because each independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association participates in a program called BlueCard^® that allows members to receive in-network benefits when seeking medical care in another Blue plan’s service area. A doctor or hospital could have submitted personal information to Premera to receive payment if a Regence member received care in a service area where Premera operates (Alaska and Washington).

Official Premera notification
The official notification from Premera to affected Regence members is scheduled to begin mailing the week of April 20. Regence began communicating with our affected groups and members on April 7 to alert them of the Premera notification.

Regence notification schedule

Additional information

• Premera is working with other Blue plans nationwide on the release of state-specific numbers, including the number of non-Premera members affected by the breach. Premera is expected to release this information in the coming weeks. We’ll post the information on the Regence blog when it’s available.

• Some current Regence members may have already received a letter from Premera. This is likely because, at some time between 2002 and 2015, they were previously a Premera member. Health carriers must maintain customer data for minimum periods of time under federal and state law. The Premera cyber-attack affected some members from 2002 to the present. If the individual was a Premera member anytime during that period, they’ll receive a letter directly from Premera.

• Our group and member notifications will include a dedicated hotline
  (1-855-770-0004) for Regence members affected by the Premera cyber-attack.

• Premera is making available two years of free credit monitoring and identity protection services to anyone affected by this incident. These services can be accessed at premeraupdate.com.

• Regence’s information system wasn’t hacked or affected by this incident in any way. Our information security team, along with third-party experts, continues to closely monitor our systems for any signs of malicious activity. No evidence of compromise has been identified.

We understand the worry and concern that an incident like this causes. We’ll provide updates as we have additional information.

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