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25 million medical records stolen. From one vendor.
Think about that for a second.
Conduent, a company most patients have never heard of, just became the second-largest healthcare breach in US history. The SafePay ransomware gang lived in their systems for 3 months, October through January, stealing 8TB of data before anyone noticed.
Texas: 15.5 million affected
Oregon: 10.5 million affected
Plus Wisconsin, Montana, New Mexico, Illinois
💡 Here’s what makes this terrifying:
They weren’t even a hospital. Conduent handles back-office operations: printing, payment processing, Medicaid benefits. One vendor supporting Blue Cross Blue Shield plans, Humana, Premera, and government programs across 30 states.
The stolen data? Everything:
• Social Security numbers
• Medical diagnoses and treatment codes
• Insurance details
• Provider names and claim amounts
• Full addresses and dates of birth
This isn’t just about cybersecurity budgets anymore.
When we outsource critical functions to save costs, we’re creating single points of catastrophic failure. One vendor breach shouldn’t compromise 7.5% of Americans’ medical records.
The healthcare supply chain is our Achilles’ heel. We audit our clinical systems religiously, but how many health systems truly understand the security posture of their print vendor? Their claims processor? Their mailroom operator?
🔍 Three uncomfortable questions for healthcare leaders:
1. How many third-party vendors touch your patient data?
2. When did you last audit their security controls?
3. Could you survive if your biggest vendor got hit tomorrow?
The Conduent breach proves we’re fighting yesterday’s war. While we fortify hospitals against direct attacks, criminals are targeting the soft underbelly: the ecosystem of vendors we depend on but barely monitor.
Maybe it’s time to rethink how we structure healthcare operations. Because right now, we’re one vendor breach away from the next 25 million records.
♻️ Repost if healthcare needs radical supply chain security reform
👉 Follow me, Jonathan Govette, for daily, real-time updates on healthcare technology and business news. LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathangovette/
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Author:
CEO/Co-Founder @ Oatmeal Health | AI Lung Cancer Screening | Almost Became a Doctor | Engineer | Follow to Share What I’ve Learned Along the Way
I help patients get the care they need earlier, preventing late-stage cancer.
That’s been the throughline across three companies and almost 20 years in healthcare. At ReferralMD, we fixed broken referral networks so patients didn’t fall through the cracks. At Oatmeal Health, it’s lung cancer: building the diagnostic and screening infrastructure so the 85% of cases caught too late get caught early instead.
Today as CEO of Oatmeal Health, I lead a team embedding AI into radiology workflows to turn routine lung CT scans into reimbursable cancer risk assessments. We partner with FQHCs to reach underserved communities, and with health systems and payers to make early detection economically sustainable. Think HeartFlow or Cleerly, but for lungs.
Between companies, I advised at Techstars and Plug and Play, mentoring founders building in digital health. That experience shaped how I think about what separates companies that ship from companies that stall: distribution, reimbursement, and clinical trust, not just technology.
I’m a CancerX alumnus, a 3x healthcare founder, and someone who believes the biggest problems in cancer aren’t scientific. They’re operational.
We’re hiring mission-driven builders at Oatmeal Health. If you want to work on something that matters, reach out.
When I’m not working, I’m traveling, mentoring, and keeping up with one very energetic husky. 🐾
Substack – The Oatmeal Bite:
Millions of patients get less care because of who they are, where they live, or how they look. I’m fighting to change that. CEO @OatmealHealth, a startup built for the underserved. The Oatmeal Bite: intel for clinicians, investors, and advocates.
Jonathan Govette
CEO of Oatmeal Health
Substack:
https://oatmealhealthjonathangovette.substack.com/
