Priority Health priorityhealth.com Priority Health data breach: what happened and what to do
A box of Priority Health member claims and records, shipped by FedEx, went missing in 2022. The company learned of it on April 8, 2022. HHS says the records included names, addresses, Social Security numbers and dates of birth, plus financial and clinical information.
View all 13,177 breaches- Breach date
- 8 Apr 2022
- Made public
- 3 Jun 2022
- Data exposed
- Names, Physical addresses, Social security numbers, Dates of birth, Financial information, Medical information
- Last updated
Reviewed by Anthon Wansland
Head of Product & Co-Founder
Serus is a privacy company with paid tools to find and remove your personal data. This page is free and based on official sources.
What happened
Priority Health, a Michigan health plan, reported that a box mailed through FedEx was lost in transit. The box held medical claims and records. The company says it learned the box was missing on April 8, 2022, and it told affected members and employers.
The case is listed with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS's description says the box contained the protected health information of 795 people. No hacker was involved: the records were lost, not stolen in an attack, and Priority Health says it has not detected misuse of the information.
Sources checked: priorityhealth.com, businesswire.com, ocrportal.hhs.gov
Last verified against the official page:
What was exposed
HHS lists names, addresses, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and financial and clinical information. A Social Security number plus a date of birth is the combination criminals use to open credit in someone else's name. Claims and clinical details can also be used to make phishing or phone scams sound believable.
What Priority Health did
In June 2022 the company offered affected members a 24-month Experian IdentityWorks membership for credit monitoring and identity restoration. That offer was made in 2022, so check the company's notice before assuming it is still open.
What to do if you were in it
- 1
Read your notice and the company's page
If Priority Health wrote to you, the letter says exactly what was in your file. The company's own page on the incident lists a privacy contact for questions.
- 2
Freeze your credit
Because Social Security numbers were involved, the FTC recommends a credit freeze. It's free and you place it separately at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
- 3
Read your explanation of benefits
Check statements from your insurer for treatment or claims you don't recognize, and report them to the plan.
- 4
Be wary of calls and texts that mention your health plan
Don't share details with an unexpected caller. Hang up and call the number on your member card.
- 5
Check whether your email or phone is in this and other breaches
Run a free Serus scan. Serus monitors breach databases and the dark web and alerts you, but it can't remove data from a breach.
Official filings
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services , filed 14 Feb 2022 : 2,112 people
Timeline
-
Reported to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
-
The breach happened
-
The company made it public
Frequently asked
Was I affected by the Priority Health breach?
Priority Health notified the members and employers it believes were affected. If you didn't get a letter, you were probably not in the box, but the company's incident page and privacy contact can confirm.
Was data stolen by hackers?
No. The records were in a box lost in transit by FedEx. Priority Health says it hasn't detected misuse of the information.
What was exposed?
According to HHS: names, addresses, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and financial and clinical information.
Sources
- priorityhealth.com/about-us/for-the-media/news-releases/credit-monitoring-for-impacted-members
- businesswire.com/news/home/20220603005330/en/Priority-Health-offers-complimentary-credit-monitoring-to-members-impacted-by-claims-incident
- ocrportal.hhs.gov/ocr/breach/breach_report.jsf
- consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-know-about-credit-freezes-and-fraud-alerts
Something wrong or out of date? Tell us and we'll re-check it.
