Darren Lyn
01 May 2026•Update: 01 May 2026
A Medicare portal database managed by the Trump administration inadvertently exposed the Social Security numbers of Medicare health care providers, according to a report Thursday by The Washington Post.
While the number of medical providers affected has not been released, the Post downloaded the database and identified at least several dozens of the Social Security numbers.
The doctors and medical personnel were associated with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and their information was compromised after it was entered into the CMS database, which helps senior citizens look up eligible medical providers.
A CMS spokesperson said the problem "stems from incorrect entries of provider or provider-representative-supplied information in the wrong places," meaning that the providers entered information in the wrong place of the database, which left their own Social Security numbers exposed.
"The agency has taken steps to address it promptly and reinforce safeguards around data submission and validation," CMS said in a statement.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services created the directory last year based on President Donald Trump's initiative to modernize health care technology.
The project has had its share of issues since being implemented, with the Post reporting that an early version of the directory was rife with errors, including misidentifying which health care providers were covered by which health care plans.
Trump administration officials have said the directory will simplify the process for patients searching for health care practitioners by tapping the reach of the federal government.
