Posted by Michael Wonder on 29 Sep 2016
Medicare dataset pulled after academics find breach of doctor details possible
29 September 2016 - The Health Department has removed Medicare data from its website amid an investigation into whether personal information has been compromised.
Australian Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim has launched an investigation after academics found it was possible to figure out some service provider ID numbers in the Medicare Benefits Schedule and Pharmaceutical Benefits Schedule datasets, published on August 1.
The University of Melbourne academics said they notified the department of the issue on September 12, adding that the data was then "immediately removed".
In a joint report, Drs Chris Culnane, Benjamin Rubinstein and Vanessa Teague described the incident as "serious".
