Greater than two million folks throughout the USA will obtain discover that their private and delicate well being data was stolen earlier this 12 months throughout a cyberattack at Postmeds, the father or mother firm of on-line pharmacy startup Truepill.
For a few of these affected, it’s the primary they’re listening to of Postmeds, not to mention that the corporate misplaced their delicate private and well being data through the information breach.
Information of the info breach additionally appeared to catch off-guard healthcare startups that beforehand relied on Postmeds to satisfy their clients’ prescriptions.
Postmeds, or Truepill, is an internet pharmacy success startup that fills prescriptions for big-name telehealth companies and different pharmacies, and mails drugs to their clients. Postmeds, via Truepill, has fulfilled prescriptions for purchasers of Folx, Hims, and GoodRx, and different common on-line telehealth startups which have emerged lately.
Even in the event you’ve by no means heard of Postmeds, the corporate might have stuffed certainly one of your prescriptions and dealt with your data. Truepill’s web site says it has delivered 20 million prescriptions to a few million folks since its founding in 2016.
Postmeds lately informed federal regulators in a legally required discover that 2.3 million people had their private data stolen within the breach. The corporate started sending written notices to affected people in early November.
Knowledge breach “presents an enormous danger”
In its information breach discover, Postmeds stated hackers stole a trove of delicate information, together with affected person names and demographic data — resembling dates of delivery — the kind of prescribed drugs and the prescriber’s identify. In some circumstances that data can infer the rationale for taking the medicine, which might embrace an individual’s extremely delicate medical data, resembling particulars about their psychological, sexual, and reproductive well being.
A few of those that obtained information breach notification letters informed TechCrunch that they have been unfamiliar with Postmeds and why the corporate had their data.
“Me and my accomplice additionally had overlapping instances through which we have been each sufferers with Folx, however I by no means acquired a letter,” a former Folx buyer, whose accomplice obtained a knowledge breach notification, informed TechCrunch.
Folx Well being is a telehealth firm that caters for the LGBTQIA+ group, with clinicians who can prescribe drugs that assist gender-affirming care. Folx stated it beforehand used Truepill to satisfy buyer prescriptions.
When reached for remark by TechCrunch, Folx chief working officer Dana Clayton informed TechCrunch: “Folx terminated its relationship with Truepill in November of 2022. We’re in contact with Truepill concerning the incident and are working to shortly assess any potential impression to our members.”
“As soon as I acquired my first package deal and noticed ‘Truepill’ on the field from Folx, I spotted, admittedly late on my half, that my information had been despatched off to a company that I personally hadn’t entered a belief relationship with.” Former Folx buyer
“Like different healthcare firms, we ship prescriptions to a variety of pharmacies based mostly on member alternative, medicine availability, value, and different components. Folx takes its members’ privateness critically and holds its companions to the strictest safety requirements,” stated Clayton. “Truepill’s information breach has been a matter of appreciable disappointment and concern for us, and Folx is dedicated to holding our members knowledgeable as we study extra.”
The previous Folx buyer, who works in cybersecurity, informed TechCrunch that the info breach “presents an enormous danger, particularly for a group that stands to lose a lot extra by having that information compromised.”
Postmeds has not publicly commented past its information breach discover. TechCrunch requested Postmeds chief govt Paul Greenall in an electronic mail to offer a listing of firms that Postmeds partnered with whose clients are affected. Greenall didn’t reply.
One other one that obtained a knowledge breach notification letter stated they have been prescribed a steady glucose monitor a 12 months or so in the past by metabolic well being startup Ranges Well being, which depends on Truepill for fulfilling its clients’ prescriptions for blood glucose displays.
When contacted by TechCrunch, Ranges wouldn’t say if its clients in the USA are affected by the Postmeds breach.
Kate Burton-Barlow, representing Ranges by way of a third-party company, stated in an electronic mail that Ranges “previously established a relationship with Truepill within the U.Ok. in anticipation of a future U.Ok. launch, however that launch has not taken place, so Ranges doesn’t have any U.Ok. clients that this might have affected.”
TechCrunch contacted a number of healthcare firms that relied on Truepill to dispense and mail drugs.
When reached for remark by TechCrunch, Hims spokesperson Khobi Brooklyn didn’t dispute that buyer information was affected by the breach involving Truepill. The spokesperson wouldn’t say what number of Hims clients are affected, however famous that not all of Hims clients had their prescriptions stuffed by Truepill.
“Buyer care and information safety are high priorities at Hims & Hers, we’ve invested closely in each, and we’re happy with our file. Whereas this wasn’t a breach of our programs or information, it’s a reminder to proceed to remain vigilant across the steps we take to safeguard our clients,” Brooklyn stated in an announcement.
Telehealth startup Cerebral, which gives telehealth companies and prescription drugs for psychological well being situations, informed TechCrunch that it has not had a enterprise relationship or shared affected person data with Truepill since 2022. “To this point, now we have not seen any notification of a breach and now we have no cause to imagine that any Cerebral affected person’s [protected health information] has been impermissibly disclosed or accessed,” Cerebral spokesperson Brittney Henderson stated in an electronic mail. (Cerebral individually disclosed earlier this 12 months that it had shared thousands and thousands of sufferers’ information with advertisers for a number of years.)
A number of different pharmacies who labored with Truepill didn’t remark when contacted by TechCrunch previous to publication.
CostPlus, the lower-cost on-line pharmacy based by Mark Cuban, which depends on Truepill for delivery drugs to clients, didn’t reply to requests for remark. Cuban invested an undisclosed quantity in Truepill earlier in 2023.
Healthcare and prescription coupon large GoodRx depends on Truepill as its mail supply accomplice. GoodRx spokesperson Lauren Casparis didn’t reply to requests for remark.
TechCrunch discovered that Nutrisense, a tech startup that gives steady glucose displays by prescription, makes use of Truepill to satisfy some orders. Nutrisense chief govt Alex Skryl didn’t reply to an electronic mail requesting remark.
The HIPAA connection
It’s not unusual for tech or healthcare firms to share affected person information with different firms, resembling third-party or specialty pharmacies, to satisfy their companies.
U.S. healthcare suppliers, like docs workplaces and pharmacies, and insurance coverage firms are topic to the well being privateness and safety guidelines set out within the Well being Insurance coverage Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, which partially governs how healthcare suppliers ought to correctly handle affected person information safety and privateness. Falling foul of HIPAA can lead to heavy fines.
However a whole lot of telehealth startups are usually not thought-about “lined entities” beneath HIPAA, and HIPAA usually doesn’t apply, as a result of the startups themselves don’t present care, fairly they join sufferers with healthcare suppliers.
As Shopper Studies notes, HIPAA “does lay out privateness guidelines for well being care suppliers and insurance coverage firms to observe once they deal with personally identifiable medical information,” however the identical piece of knowledge protected at a health care provider’s workplace “will be completely unregulated in different settings.”
Each Hims and Cerebral word of their privateness insurance policies that whereas state privateness legal guidelines might apply, HIPAA “doesn’t essentially apply to an entity or particular person just because there may be well being data concerned.” Firms saying they’re “HIPAA compliant” can imply that HIPAA doesn’t apply to them.
The U.S. doesn’t have a nationwide information safety or privateness legislation, and as a substitute depends on a patchwork of state legal guidelines that fluctuate state-by-state. Most People stay in states which have little to no protections towards the sharing of an individual’s data.
As a substitute, firms normally spell out how they deal with buyer or affected person information of their privateness coverage, however are usually not obligated to reveal which particular firms they work with.
The 2 folks, who obtained information breach notification letters from Postmeds and spoke with us for this story, each criticized the businesses who issued their prescriptions for missing transparency about who their enterprise companions are and which of these companions would obtain their delicate private data.
“As soon as I acquired my first package deal and noticed ‘Truepill’ on the field from Folx, I spotted, admittedly late on my half, that my information had been despatched off to a company that I personally hadn’t entered a belief relationship with,” the previous Folx consumer informed TechCrunch.
A number of threads on Reddit have feedback from individuals who obtained information breach notifications from Postmeds, however are usually not certain which firm equipped Postmeds with their data.
“I simply acquired this letter and I don’t know which physician this could even be via,” stated one particular person. “Additionally obtained this letter. No data of the corporate,” stated one other.
The breach is the most recent incident to befall the embattled Truepill.
Truepill underwent a number of rounds of layoffs in 2022, together with giant swaths of its product crew and all of its U.Ok. workers. In September, Truepill co-founder Sid Viswanathan was pushed out of the corporate.
Earlier this month, Truepill settled with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration claims that it illegally distributed 1000’s of prescriptions for managed substances, through which Truepill “accepted duty for working an unregistered on-line pharmacy.”
Do you’re employed at a healthcare group that’s affected by the Postmeds/Truepill breach? You may contact Zack Whittaker on Sign and WhatsApp at +1 646-755-8849 or by electronic mail; you may also contact Carly Web page securely on Sign at +441536 853968 or by electronic mail. You too can contact TechCrunch by way of SecureDrop.