Blue Cross Mistake - Case Study Example

Blue Cross Mistake Background Blue Cross and Blue Shield Company of Rhode Island are a healthcare provider and insurer in the United States. It is said to be a company that is trusted by most of the America’s population. One out of two residents of Rhodes Island is a member of this healthcare insurance company. They have an excellent, trained and qualified team of professionals who offer prompt, courteous and efficient services. Some of the services they offer include group plans such the Blue cross dental, plans for individuals and family, plans for people with Medicare, retiree plans, pre-existing conditions plan and other services that include case management, health lifestyle programs and medical coverage policies (BCBSRI, n.d).The problem/ issue In April 2010 Blue Cross and Blue Shield Company were faced with a crisis in which personal information that belongs to approximately twelve thousand BlueCHiP for Medicare members of the company was accidentally contained in a filing cabinet that was donated to a local non- profit organization.

The filing cabinet was among other office furniture that was donated to this local organization. This information was sensitive as it contained Medicare Health surveys that included names, contact information, social security data, Medicare identification numbers and other medical information which is not supposed to be in the public domain.Present action and situation The local non-profit organization reported the presence of the information in the office equipment that was donated to them. This prompted a quick investigation into the problem.

The company notified the appropriate authorities of the problem including the Medicare members. This was not just enough to handle the above incident. In ensuring that the information was not misused by any other party that got access to it, the company is offering free credit monitoring, assistance in identity theft protection and an Identity protection guarantee for a year. On the other hand to ensure that there is no repeat of such an incident the company was forced to take disciplinary action for all the employees who failed to adhere to the company’s guidelines on information handling (BCBSRI, n.d).Proposed actions The company took the necessary steps in ensuring that the information was not compromised as a result of the breach.

In my opinion the steps that the company took were swift and effective in handling the incident. The company made a good choice by informing the relevant authorities and the affected members of the data breach. This is a good sign as they took responsibility of their mess. By offering the affected members free credit monitoring and identity theft protection assistance for a whole year they have proved that indeed they value their customers and they are willing to go the extra mile to ensure that their information is safe which in my opinion, is a good move (BCBSRI, n.d).Recommendations To avoid such an incident from happening again in the future, the company should put in place strict guidelines to be followed when handling information from the company.

They should have a procedure through which all equipment leaving the company must go through in order to be certified as ‘clean’ to be allowed to the public. They should also educate the employees on the importance of keeping the records of their members safe so that they understand the implications of mishandling data belonging to their members.ReferencesBCBSRI (Blue Cross and Blue Shield Company of Rhode Island) (n.d). Retrieved on 9 03 2011, from https://www.bcbsri.com/BCBSRIWeb/about/index.jsp