State Accidentally Mails Out Private Health Information To The Wrong Patients
DENVER, Colo. (CBS4) - Protected health information from the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing was unintentionally mailed to the wrong people, the department announced on Monday.
According to the department, the letters were mailed between May 25 and July 5. A resident who received a letter not intended for that resident notified county workers about the error.
"The technical error was corrected by the Governor's Office of Information Technology on July 5," the department said in a statement.
"Letters meant for approximately 3,000 Medical Assistance, Food Assistance, Adult Financial and Colorado Works households were mistakenly sent to wrong addresses," Colorado's Office of Information Technology said in a statement.
The Department of Health Care Policy and Financing noted that the letters may have included "names, address, state identification number or Medicaid case number, names of family members in a household, employer name, income from that employer, amount of an Advanced Premium Tax Credit (APTC), and whether the individuals were approved or denied for several medical assistance programs such as Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+). For fewer than 50 of those affected, a date of birth was also disclosed."
"Correspondence intended for 1,069 CDHS households included the Social Security numbers of individuals. Letters meant for another 353 CDHS households included personally identifiable information such as name, address and state identification numbers," the Office of Information Technology said.
"The department and its partners take the privacy of our members' information very seriously and is notifying those impacted by this breach," said Susan E. Birch, MBA, BSN, RN, executive director Of the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. "The department in partnership with its vendors, has taken additional steps to prevent future errors."
The state contacted the people who mistakenly received the letters and asked that they be destroyed.
Additional Information From The Department Of Health Care Policy And Financing
Consumers with questions can visit the Department's website (www.colorado.gov/HCPF) or contact the toll-free hotline at 844-648-4636, Monday Friday, between 9 a.m. 5 p.m.