Grassley Wyden Probe Data Breach that Exposed Organ Transplant Patients Sensitive Data Mix 1073 KIOW

pSens Chuck Grassley RIowa and Ron Wyden DOre are holding the United Network for Organ Sharing UNOS accountable after a data breach allowed UNOS system users unauthorized access to over a million sensitive patient records This technology breakdown is the latest in a string of failures at UNOS which for 40 years has held the sole government contract to manage the US organ transplant system Grassley and Wyden the former and current chairmen respectively of the Senate Finance Committee last year authored a historic law that breaks up the organ transplant contract and encourages the most competent contractors in the field to manage the nations organ systemppWhether the exposed data was accessed by authorized users only or not this mishandling error is another example of UNOSs failure to operate the critical technology supporting the OPTN the senators wrote Given the large amount of sensitive data UNOS stores and collects on past and present patients it is imperative that data breaches do not happen againpp Grassley and Wyden more than two years ago urged UNOS to modernize and secure its technology system and raised concerns regarding UNOSs cybersecurity standards to the White House Chief Information Officer The lawmakers further sounded the alarm after a UNOS system outage briefly halted all transplant matches putting patients lives at riskppRead Grassley and Wydens latest letter HERE and belowpp ppMarch 27 2024pp ppVIA ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSIONpp ppDr Maureen McBrideppChief Executive OfficerppUnited Network for Organ Sharingpp700 N 4th StreetppRichmond Virginia 23219pp ppDear Dr McBridepp ppOn November 10 2023 during two software tests the United Network for Organ Sharing UNOS discovered it had been exposed to a data breach as a result of a software configuration error that gave unauthorized access to at least 15 million patient records to Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network OPTN and DonorNet system users1  System users are authorized to view specific patient records on a casebycase basis for the purpose of providing medical care2  However system users do not have unfettered access to every patient record within the OPTN and DonorNet system which was the result of the breach3  The sensitive data that was exposed included patients dates of birth social security numbers and procedures4  Whether the exposed data was accessed by authorized users only or not this mishandling error is another example of UNOSs failure to operate the critical technology supporting the OPTNpp ppUnfortunately this is not the first time we have raised concerns regarding UNOSs inability to operate its critical technology  On January 31 2022 we wrote to UNOS expressing concerns and asking thenCEO Brian Shepard to take immediate action to modernize the national OPTN information technology system and secure it from cyberattacks5  On February 11 2022 we also raised concerns with the White House Chief Information Officer regarding the cybersecurity and technology used by UNOS as the nations OPTN contractor6  Then on March 20 2023 we wrote to your organization expressing concerns about the February 15 2023 DonorNet outage which left patients lives at risk7pp ppUNOS is responsible for overseeing and operating the OPTN IT System which maintains the waitlist for all organ transplant candidates in the United States8  According to UNOSs website UNOS works for the more than 100000 patients on the transplant waiting list to ensure they have equitable access to lifesaving organs9  In 2023 UNOS facilitated more than 46000 organ transplants10  Given the large amount of sensitive data UNOS stores and collects on past and present patients it is imperative that data breaches do not happen againpp ppConsidering our continued concerns with the security of UNOSs critical technology and its apparent inability to efficiently and effectively operate the OPTN please answer the following questions no later than April 10 2024pp pp ppThank you for your prompt review and responses If you have any questions please contact Tucker Akin of Senator Grassleys staff at 202 2240642 and Melissa Dickerson of Chairman Wydens staff at 202 2244515pp pp ppSincerelypp                                                            ppRon Wyden                                                                                     ppChairman                                                                                  ppCommittee on Financepp ppCharles E GrassleyppMemberppCommittee on Financepp1 Eric Kolenich Organ transplant data breach grows to 15 million records Richmond TimesDispatch January 23 2024 httpsrichmondcomnewslocalbusinesshealthcareorgantransplantdatabreachgrowsto15millionrecordsarticlece03f26eb94611eea19a4f4cfee81c94htmlpp2 Id Disclosure from Patient Group Stakeholder Emails on file with Budget Comm Staff See also Letter from Melanie Anne Egorin PhD Assistant Secretary for Legislation Department of Health and Human Services to Senators Wyden and Crapo On File with Senate Finance Committeepp3 Idpp4 Supra note 1pp5  Letter from Senators Wyden and Grassley to UNOS January 31 2022 httpswwwgrassleysenategovimomediadocwydenandgrassleytounositsecuritysystemspdfpp6 Joseph Menn and Lenny Bernstein Thousands of lives depend on a transplant network in need of vast restructuring The Washington Post August 3 2022 httpswwwwashingtonpostcomhealth20220731unostransplantskindeysheartstechnology We request you take immediate steps to secure the national Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network system from cyberattacks the committee chair Sen Ron Wyden DOre and Sen Charles E Grassley RIowa wrote to Federal Chief Information Officer Clare Martorana in February Letter from Senators Wyden and Grassley to UNOS February 11 2022 httpswwwgrassleysenategovimomediadocwydenandgrassleytoomboptntechpdfpp7 Letter from Senators Wyden and Grassley to UNOS March 20 2023 httpswwwgrassleysenategovimomediadocwydengrassleytounitednetworkfororgansharingdonornetoutagepdfpp8 UNOS Technology for transplants httpsunosorgtechnologytechnologyfortransplantationtextUsing20DonorNet2C20an20organ20procurement20organization2028OPO2920addscoordinators20whose20casework20requires20traveling20to20different20hospitalspp9 UNOS The national organ transplant system httpsunosorgaboutnationalorgantransplantsystemtextEvery20day2C20UNOS20works20for20the20more20thanor20where20they20go20for20their20transplant20carepp10 UNOS Actions to strengthen the US organ donation and transplant system httpsunosorgtransplantimproveorgandonationandtransplantsystempp11 Records include any written recorded or graphic material of any kind including letters memoranda reportsppnotes electronic data emails email attachments and any other electronically created or stored informationppcalendar entries interoffice communications meeting minutes phonevoice mail or recordingsrecords of verbalppcommunications and drafts whether they resulted in final documentsppppMonday June 24th
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