Sept. 5, 2023
Recently, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL) mailed letters to members with self-funded employer group health plans or with past or current health insurance coverage with BCBSIL. These letters were to inform you about a recent incident that involved your protected health information (PHI) as required under the law.
What Happened: On June 15, 2023, we became aware that your PHI may have been inadvertently disclosed to an unauthorized party between September 19, 2022, and May 18, 2023. We have investigated the incident. It was found that during a call handled by a BCBSIL vendor, TTEC, providing customer service, your PHI may have been disclosed to an unauthorized individual. This was a result of TTEC employees delegating their calls to non-TTEC individuals. The investigation did not find any evidence that your information was used in any way other than to perform work for BCBSIL.
What Information Was Involved: The information that may have been disclosed included your name, date of birth, group number, subscriber number, address, phone number, claim number (DCN), medical service information and Social Security Number.
What We Are Doing: BCBSIL confirmed that the vendor, TTEC, terminated the employees involved in the incident. In addition, they have enhanced their hiring protocols, employee monitoring, and security measures, to prevent such disclosures in the future.
To minimize any harm, you are being offered free identity theft protection services through IDX, A ZeroFox Company. IDX identity protection services include: 12 months of credit monitoring and 24 months of CyberScan monitoring, a $1,000,000 insurance policy, and fully managed ID theft recovery services.
With this protection, IDX will help you resolve issues if your identity is compromised. This product is completely free to you and enrolling in this program will not affect your credit score. Please review the enclosed Information about Identity Theft Protection.
How do I enroll in IDX credit monitoring: Scan the QR code at the bottom of this letter, go to https://app.idx.us/account-creation/protect and follow the instructions for enrollment using your Enrollment Code provided at the top of this letter or call IDX directly at 1-800-939-4170. Please note the deadline to enroll is November 24, 2023. Due to privacy laws, we cannot register you directly.
What You Can Do: We have no reason to believe that anyone has accessed or misused your data. However, we want to make you aware of steps you may take to guard against identity theft or fraud. If you receive or access explanation of benefits statements (EOBs) from BCBSIL, we recommend that you regularly review these statements. If you see any service that you did not receive, please call us at the number found on the statement or on your member identification (ID) card. If you do not receive or access EOBs, contact your provider or plan. You can request that they send you a statement following the provision of any services under your name and ID number.
There are more actions you can take to reduce the chances of identity theft or fraud on your accounts. Please refer to the final page of this letter
For More Information: If you have any questions about this incident, please call 1-800-939-4170, Monday through Friday, between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Central time, excluding U.S. holidays.