Providers continue to take advantage of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s (BCBSA) offering of one year free credit monitoring service. The offer followed a security breach in August 2009 involving an unauthorized transfer of data and a laptop stolen from a BCBSA employee. Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) notified providers (read the letter) about the incident because BCBSNC had submitted provider data to the BCBSA for a provider locator tool maintained on the BCBSA website. Originally, providers were given until December 31, 2009, to activate the credit monitoring service code. To ensure that providers who may not have activated the service still have an opportunity to do so, the Association has extended the activation deadline of all outstanding codes to February 28, 2010.
