Indianapolis, Indiana ishome to many businesses bringing in billions of dollars to the city Businessesincluding Eli Lilly, Cummins, and with Anthem being charted number one forlargest Indiana public Company.
Anthem began in the 1940s as an American healthinsurance company set in Indianapolis, IN, which then later to merge withWellPoint Health Networks in 2004 (Anthem Inc, 2005). Anthem has been providingaffordable health plans that gives Indiana Hoosier the best health care theyneed like dental and vision. About one in eight Americans are covered byAnthem’s health plans for their medical care (Anthem Inc, 2005). That is over73 million people who use Anthem’s health plans. Anthems goal is at exceedingeveryday executions, creating the best health care, and finding newopportunities to begin growth (Anthem Inc, 2005).
Anthem does not only takecare of their state residents but also gives employees quite the benefits oftheir health plans. With Anthem having over millions of customers, andemployees too comes with a greater risk of privacy. Anthem holds records likenames, birthdays, medical IDs, and even social security numbers of everyindividual. Which brings me to explain the ethical scandal that Anthem dealtwith in 2015, when it was attacked by an external cyber source.
Thiscyber-attack included hackers gaining information like names, social securitynumbers, medical IDs, and even Income. With millions of records stolen italmost makes it be the largest healthcare breach in years (Weise, 2015).Although the breach did not significantly affect the people in some horribleways in which credit information was not stolen, and hackers were probably notinterested in medical information (Weise, 2015). This breach still concerned bymany customers and worried that their data could no longer be trusted to besecure. Anthem main product is providing health care plans that requirepersonal information, therefore Anthem must take social responsibility inmaking sure that their customer was given the trust that their Running Head:Ethical Analysis of Indiana Company 3information could andwill be protected. For Anthem to exceed these expectations, I have designedthree programs in which Anthem can meet their daily goals, and to further avoidconflicts like the 2015 breach. The first program includes all employees haveadditional background checks periodically.
In most cases, some cyber-attacksinclude having an internal source within the company. A big company like Anthemcan make it difficult to spot out if an employee is violating their ethics andcompliance training or committing unethical actions. Employees must have asemiannually background check and must comply with understanding their ethicscodes and compliance. With having employees being aware of their surroundingsit is also important for Anthems’ Customer to be aware of what is happeningwithin the company. I believe Anthem should be responsible for reporting anyactivity to the customer directly through email first. If a data breach were tohappen again customers need to know right away to report if they have beenaffected. Communication between the company and the customer gives a strongertrust in knowing that a customer won’t be surprised by a third-party sourcewith information about the company they do business with.
This may seem notimportant as background checks and validations, but it is more ofresponsibility that any company should have. The last program I think Anthemshould implement is their cybersecurity program. With company retainingvaluable information it is important for the company to rely on a trustedcybersecurity program. I think with every breach encounter, Anthem needs tospend time and money into researching why they were breached and how can avoidnext time. This makes Anthem socially responsible in caring of protecting thecustomer information by using the best cybersecurity program. With these threeprograms in effect, Anthem will show an enhanced reputation for its security.The shareholder will see a higher market share because Anthem is conductingbusiness will other companies to provide a stable security network. With thathaving a higher market share, means increased revenue for the company.
Thesetypes of programs will Running Head:Ethical Analysis of Indiana Company 4ensure Anthem’s customerof not leaving them for other healthcare companies because they know theirinformation is in safe hands. In the end, the product is never your main factorof whether your company is socially responsible. Taking actions to make sureyour customer is satisfied is the main factor to being socially responsible.
