April 26, 2024 at 02:23PM
Kaiser Permanente notified 13.4 million current and former members about potential unauthorized data transmission to Google, Microsoft, and Twitter, from its websites and apps. The transmitted information included personal and health-related data, but not sensitive identifiers. Kaiser has taken measures to remove the technology and prevent recurrence. This raises concerns about hospitals sharing user data with third parties.
From the meeting notes, it is clear that Kaiser Permanente has notified 13.4 million current and former members and patients that their personal information may have been transmitted to third-party vendors due to the presence of certain online technologies on its websites and mobile applications. These technologies included user tracking and analytics tools offered by Big Tech and data brokers. Kaiser has emphasized that sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, social security numbers, financial account information, and credit card numbers were not shared with the third parties. However, information such as IP address, names, site usage, and health knowledge base search terms were shared.
Kaiser has conducted a voluntary internal investigation into the use of these online technologies and has implemented additional measures to safeguard against recurrence of such incidents. It is worth noting that this disclosure comes at a time when research has revealed that many American hospitals regularly use tracking technologies on their websites, which share user information with various third parties, raising concerns about user privacy.
In conclusion, Kaiser Permanente has taken steps to address the issue, but the incident highlights the broader issue of data privacy and the use of tracking technologies by healthcare organizations.