Notice of Episource LLC Data Incident
June 23, 2025– On Monday, April 7, 2025, VNS Health (“VNS”), was notified of a data incident experienced by its vendor, Episource, LLC (“Episource”). Episource performs quality checks for VNS for Risk Adjustment Data Validation audits that are conducted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to verify the accuracy of diagnosis codes. This data incident may have impacted the privacy of certain VNS members’ personal and/or protected health information (“PHI”). VNS is providing information about the incident and Episource’s response.
What Happened? On February 6, 2025, Episource discovered unusual activity in its computer systems. Episource responded to the incident immediately and began an investigation with the assistance of outside cybersecurity specialists. Episource also notified law enforcement and turned off its computer systems to help protect their customers, including VNS members. Through its response efforts, Episource learned that an unauthorized actor obtained access to certain Episource systems between January 27, 2025, and February 6, 2025, and was able to view and potentially made copies of some of the data. Upon containing the incident and reconnecting its computer systems, Episource conducted a comprehensive review to understand the scope of potentially affected information and identify the individuals to whom such information relates. Episource then worked as quickly as possible to begin providing notice to potentially impacted individuals and entities on April 23, 2025.
What Information was Affected? The types of impacted information vary by individual and could have included: personal data such as name, address, phone number, email address, date of birth, Social Security number; health insurance data such as health plans/policies, insurance companies, member/group ID numbers, and Medicaid-Medicare-government payor ID numbers; and/or health data such as medical record numbers, physical treatment/condition information, diagnosis code or diagnosis information, admission/discharge date, prescription information, doctors and test results/images. To date, Episource is not aware of any misuse of the impacted information.
In accordance with best practices, we encourage you to review your account statements, explanations of benefits, and credit reports carefully for unexpected activity and to report any questionable activity to the associated institutions immediately.
What Episource Is Doing. Episource takes this incident, and the security of information entrusted to it very seriously. In response to the incident, Episource promptly took steps to mitigate any risk of compromise to information and better prevent a similar event from reoccurring. Episource conducted an investigation utilizing the cybersecurity specialists to monitor its network and identify any suspicious activity, notified law enforcement and notified potentially affected individuals as quickly as possible. Episource is also working to strengthen the data protection and security for its existing computer systems.
Episource notified potentially affected individuals by posting a notice of this data event on its website. Additionally, Episource provided notice to its primary state and federal regulators. Now that its review and validation efforts are complete, Episource notified potentially affected individuals via a media release, and mailing letters to potentially affected individuals for whom Episource has address information on behalf of VNS. The supplemental notice on Episource’s website is available online here: https://response.idx.us/episource/ VNS is providing this substitute notice to supplement Episource’s notices.
What Affected Individuals Can Do. We encourage potentially affected individuals to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft and fraud by reviewing their account statements, explanations of benefits, and credit reports carefully for unexpected activity and to report any questionable activity to the associated institutions immediately. Additional information can be found below in the Reference Guide.
Reference Guide
For More Information. For individuals seeking additional information regarding this event, a toll-free assistance line has been established. Individuals may call (877) 786-0549, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. CT, except holidays.
VNS sincerely regrets any concern this incident may cause for any VNS member. VNS takes information security very seriously.
Review Your Account Statements Carefully review statements sent to you from your healthcare providers, insurance company, and financial institutions to ensure that all of your account activity is valid.
Report any questionable charges promptly to the provider or company with which you maintain the account.
Provide Any Updated Personal Information to Your Health Care Provider Your health care provider’s office may ask to see a photo ID to verify your identity. Please bring a photo ID with you to every appointment if possible. Your provider’s office may also ask you to confirm your date of birth, address, telephone, and other pertinent information so that they can make sure that all of your information is up to date. Please be sure and tell your provider’s office when there are any changes to your information. Carefully reviewing this information with your provider’s office at each visit can help to avoid problems and to address them quickly should there be any discrepancies.
Order Your Free Credit Report To order your free annual credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com, call toll-free at (877) 322-8228, or complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) website at www.ftc.gov and mail it to Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. The three credit bureaus provide free annual credit reports only through the website, toll-free number or request form.
Upon receiving your credit report, review it carefully. Look for accounts you did not open. Look in the “inquiries” section for names of creditors from whom you have not requested credit. Some companies bill under names other than their store or commercial names; the credit bureau will be able to tell if this is the case. Look in the “personal information” section for any inaccuracies in information (such as home address and Social Security Number).
If you see anything you do not understand, call the credit bureau at the telephone number on the report. Errors may be a warning sign of possible identity theft. You should notify the credit bureaus of any inaccuracies in your report, whether due to error or fraud, as soon as possible so the information can be investigated and, if found to be in error, corrected. If there are accounts or charges you did not authorize, immediately notify the appropriate credit bureau by telephone and in writing. Information that cannot be explained should also be reported to your local police or sheriff’s office because it may signal criminal activity.
Contact the U.S. Federal Trade Commission If you detect any unauthorized transactions in any of your financial accounts, promptly notify the appropriate payment card company or financial institution. If you detect any incidents of identity theft or fraud, promptly report the matter to your local law enforcement authorities, state Attorney General and the FTC.
You can contact the FTC to learn more about how to protect yourself from becoming a victim of identity theft by using the contact information below:
Federal Trade Commission Consumer Response Center
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20580
1-877-IDTHEFT (438-4338)
Place a Fraud Alert on Your Credit File To protect yourself from possible identity theft, consider placing a fraud alert on your credit file. A fraud alert helps protect against the possibility of an identity thief opening new credit accounts in your name. When a credit grantor checks the credit history of someone applying for credit, the credit grantor gets a notice that the applicant may be the victim of identity theft. The alert notifies the credit grantor to take steps to verify the identity of the applicant. You can place a fraud alert on your credit report by calling any one of the toll-free fraud numbers provided below. You will reach an automated telephone system that allows flagging of your file with a fraud alert at all three credit bureaus.
Equifax
P.O. Box 105069
Atlanta, Georgia 30348
1-888-766- 0008
Experian
P.O. Box 9554
Allen, Texas 75013
1-888-397- 3742
TransUnion
P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19016
1-800-680- 7289
Security Freezes You have the right to request a credit freeze from a consumer reporting agency, free of charge, so that no new credit can be opened in your name without the use of a PIN number that is issued to you when you initiate a freeze. A security freeze is designed to prevent potential credit grantors from accessing your credit report without your consent. If you place a security freeze, potential creditors and other third parties will not be able to get access to your credit report unless you temporarily lift the freeze. Therefore, using a security freeze may delay your ability to obtain credit.
Unlike a fraud alert, you must separately place a security freeze on your credit file at each credit bureau. To place a security freeze on your credit report you must contact the credit reporting agency by phone, mail, or secure electronic means and provide proper identification of your identity. The following information must be included when requesting a security freeze (note that if you are requesting a security freeze for your spouse, this information must be provided for him/her as well): (1) full name, with middle initial and any suffixes; (2) Social Security number; (3) date of birth; (4) current address and any previous addresses for the past five years; and (5) any applicable incident report or complaint with a law enforcement agency or the Registry of Motor Vehicles. The request must also include a copy of a government-issued identification card and a copy of a recent utility bill or bank or insurance statement. It is essential that each copy be legible, display your name and current mailing address, and the date of issue.
Below, please find relevant contact information for the three consumer reporting agencies:
Equifax Security Freeze
P.O. Box 105788
Atlanta, Georgia 30348
1-800-685- 1111
Experian Security Freeze
P.O. Box 9554
Allen, Texas 75013
1-888-397- 3742
TransUnion
P.O. Box 160
Woodlyn, PA 19094
1-888-909- 8872
Once you have submitted your request, the credit reporting agency must place the security freeze no later than 1 business day after receiving a request by phone or secure electronic means, and no later than 3 business days after receiving a request by mail. No later than 5 business days after placing the security freeze, the credit reporting agency will send you confirmation and information on how you can remove the freeze in the future.
For Residents of Additional Information
District of Columbia
You may contact the D.C. Attorney General’s Office to obtain information about steps to take to avoid identity theft: D.C. Attorney General’s Office, Office of Consumer Protection, 400 6th Street, NW, Washington DC 20001, 1-202-442- 9828, www.oag.dc.gov.
Iowa
You may contact law enforcement or the Iowa Attorney General’s office to report suspected incidents of identity theft. The Iowa Attorney General’s Office can be reached at: Iowa Attorney General’s Office, Director of Consumer Protection Division, 1305 E. Walnut Street, Des Moines, IA 50319, 1-515- 281-5926, www.iowattorneygeneral.gov.
Maryland
You may also obtain information about preventing and avoiding identity theft from the Maryland Office of the Attorney General: Maryland Office of the Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division, 200 St. Paul Place, Baltimore, MD 21202, 1-888-743- 0023, http://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/.
Massachusetts
You have the right to obtain a police report with respect to this incident. If you are the victim of identity theft, you also have the right to file a police report and obtain a copy of it.
New Mexico
New Mexico consumers have the right to obtain a security freeze or submit a declaration of removal. You may obtain a security freeze on your credit report to protect your privacy and ensure that credit is not granted in your name without your knowledge. You may submit a declaration of removal to remove information placed in your credit report as a result of being a victim of identity theft. You have a right to place a security freeze on your credit report or submit a declaration of removal pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting and Identity Security Act. The security freeze will prohibit a consumer reporting agency from releasing any information in your credit report without your express authorization or approval. The security freeze is designed to prevent credit, loans and services from being approved in your name without your consent. When you place a security freeze on your credit report, you will be provided with a personal identification number, password or similar device to use if you choose to remove the freeze on your credit report or to temporarily authorize the release of your credit report to a specific party or parties or for a specific period of time after the freeze is in place. To remove the freeze or to provide authorization for the temporary release of your credit report, you must contact the consumer reporting agency and provide all of the following: (1) the unique personal identification number, password or similar device provided by the consumer reporting agency; (2) proper identification to verify your identity; and (3) information regarding the third party or parties who are to receive the credit report or the period of time for which the credit report may be released to users of the credit report. A consumer reporting agency that receives a request from a consumer to lift temporarily a freeze on a credit report shall comply with the request no later than three business days after receiving the request. As of September 1, 2008, a consumer reporting agency shall comply with the request within fifteen minutes of receiving the request by a secure electronic method or by telephone. A security freeze does not apply in all circumstances, such as where you have an existing account relationship and a copy of your credit report is requested by your existing creditor or its agents for certain types of account review, collection, fraud control or similar activities; for use in setting or adjusting an insurance rate or claim or insurance underwriting; for certain governmental purposes; and for purposes of prescreening as defined in the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. If you are actively seeking a new credit, loan, utility, telephone or insurance account, you should understand that the procedures involved in lifting a security freeze may slow your own applications for credit. You should plan ahead and lift a freeze, either completely if you are shopping around or specifically for a certain creditor, with enough advance notice before you apply for new credit for the lifting to take effect. You should contact a consumer reporting agency and request it to lift the freeze at least three business days before applying. As of September 1, 2008, if you contact a consumer reporting agency by a secure electronic method or by telephone, the consumer reporting agency should lift the freeze within fifteen minutes. You have a right to bring a civil action against a consumer reporting agency that violates your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting and Identity Security Act.
New York
You may also obtain information about security breach response and identity theft prevention and protection from the New York Attorney General’s Office: Office of the Attorney General, The Capitol, Albany, NY 12224-0341, 1-800-771- 7755, www.ag.ny.gov.
North Carolina You may also obtain information about preventing and avoiding identity theft from the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office: North Carolina Attorney General’s Office, Consumer Protection Division, 9001 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-9001, 1- 919-716-6000, www.ncdoj.gov.
Oregon
State laws advise you to report any suspected identity theft to law enforcement, as well as the Federal Trade Commission. Contact information for the Oregon Department of Justice is as follows: Oregon Department of Justice, 1162 Court Street NE, Salem, OR 97301, 1-877-877-9392, www.doj.state.or.us.
Rhode Island
You have a right to file or obtain a police report related to this incident. You may also obtain information about preventing and avoiding identity theft from the Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General: Office of the Attorney General, 150 South Main Street, Providence, RI, 02903, 1-401-274- 4400, www.riag.ri.gov.