State of Alabama "ALL Kids" families receive each others' information
Technorati Tag: Security Breach
Date Reported:
11/06/07
Organization:
State of Alabama
Contractor/Consultant/Branch:
Department of Public Health, and;
Graphics and Mailing Service, Inc.
Victims:
Certain families enrolled in the State of Alabama Children's Health Insurance Program (ALL Kids)*
*"ALL Kids, operated with state and federal funds, provides health insurance to uninsured children whose family income is from just above the Medicaid eligibility limit up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level, which is about $41,000 a year for a family of four."
Number Affected:
1,554 families
Types of Data:
Names, ages, Social Security numbers and other personal information.
Breach Description:
The Alabama Department of Public Health inadvertently sent healthcare enrollment forms to the wrong families through their vendor, Graphics and Mailing Service, Inc. The enrollment forms contained sensitive personal information on families enrolled in the state's ALL Kids program.
Reference URL:
Alabama Live/Press Register Story
WSFA Channel 12 News Story
Report Credit:
Sebastian Kitchen, Capital Bureau
Response:
From the online articles cited above:
"The personal information, including the names, ages and Social Security numbers of more than 1,500 families enrolled in the state's ALL Kids health care coverage program, were accidentally sent to the wrong families last week"
"We sent out a letter Friday afternoon to the 1,554 affected families alerting them that some of their confidential information might have been released," said Cathy Caldwell, director of the health insurance program. "It wasn't released to the general public. It was within the 1,554 families. Some of them got each others' information."
John Wible, general counsel for the health department, said the agency does not expect to face legal action, but "it's definitely a breach of confidentiality."
"We do take people's confidentiality very seriously, and we all worked very diligently to remediate this and make sure it doesn't happen again, and we believe we have done that," he said.
[Comfyllama] A good start would be to not send forms containing sensitive personal information through the mail!
"For the convenience of those enrolled, the personal information is printed on the form so family members do not have to rewrite it, Caldwell said."
[Comfyllama] We all try to make things "convenient", unfortunately we sometimes do so at the expense of security.
"Officials with the health department first became aware of the situation on Thursday when families began to call and say they received the information for the wrong family. She said department officials immediately contracted the vendor."
"Don Sease, president and owner of Graphics and Mailing, said his company processed 4,000 records a month for the health department for five years and this was the first incident."
[Comfyllama] Little consolation for those affected.
Sease said he has been in the business for more than 20 years and "never had this problem." He said a glitch in the computer software caused the mismatching of some people and addresses.
"I apologize for the misdirected information and I wish I had the exact answer for what happened," Sease said. "Unfortunately, at this point, I don't."
[Comfyllama] Uh oh. The company is not even sure what happened. The apology is good though.
For the families who received the wrong forms, Caldwell said the department will use in-house equipment to print blank renewal forms to send to families. After those are sent, a new vendor, Davis Direct of Montgomery, will assume the role of sending out the forms.
Commentary:
On one hand, I can understand how mistakes happen. Mistakes will always happen. On the other hand, I strongly disagree with the decision to make things "convenient" by including sensitive personal information in mailings. I hope that the State of Alabama has since decided to cease this practice.
Past Breaches:
Unknown
Date Reported:11/06/07
Organization:
State of Alabama
Contractor/Consultant/Branch:
Department of Public Health, and;
Graphics and Mailing Service, Inc.
Victims:
Certain families enrolled in the State of Alabama Children's Health Insurance Program (ALL Kids)*
*"ALL Kids, operated with state and federal funds, provides health insurance to uninsured children whose family income is from just above the Medicaid eligibility limit up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level, which is about $41,000 a year for a family of four."
Number Affected:
1,554 families
Types of Data:
Names, ages, Social Security numbers and other personal information.
Breach Description:
The Alabama Department of Public Health inadvertently sent healthcare enrollment forms to the wrong families through their vendor, Graphics and Mailing Service, Inc. The enrollment forms contained sensitive personal information on families enrolled in the state's ALL Kids program.
Reference URL:
Alabama Live/Press Register Story
WSFA Channel 12 News Story
Report Credit:
Sebastian Kitchen, Capital Bureau
Response:
From the online articles cited above:
"The personal information, including the names, ages and Social Security numbers of more than 1,500 families enrolled in the state's ALL Kids health care coverage program, were accidentally sent to the wrong families last week"
"We sent out a letter Friday afternoon to the 1,554 affected families alerting them that some of their confidential information might have been released," said Cathy Caldwell, director of the health insurance program. "It wasn't released to the general public. It was within the 1,554 families. Some of them got each others' information."
John Wible, general counsel for the health department, said the agency does not expect to face legal action, but "it's definitely a breach of confidentiality."
"We do take people's confidentiality very seriously, and we all worked very diligently to remediate this and make sure it doesn't happen again, and we believe we have done that," he said.
[Comfyllama] A good start would be to not send forms containing sensitive personal information through the mail!
"For the convenience of those enrolled, the personal information is printed on the form so family members do not have to rewrite it, Caldwell said."
[Comfyllama] We all try to make things "convenient", unfortunately we sometimes do so at the expense of security.
"Officials with the health department first became aware of the situation on Thursday when families began to call and say they received the information for the wrong family. She said department officials immediately contracted the vendor."
"Don Sease, president and owner of Graphics and Mailing, said his company processed 4,000 records a month for the health department for five years and this was the first incident."
[Comfyllama] Little consolation for those affected.
Sease said he has been in the business for more than 20 years and "never had this problem." He said a glitch in the computer software caused the mismatching of some people and addresses.
"I apologize for the misdirected information and I wish I had the exact answer for what happened," Sease said. "Unfortunately, at this point, I don't."
[Comfyllama] Uh oh. The company is not even sure what happened. The apology is good though.
For the families who received the wrong forms, Caldwell said the department will use in-house equipment to print blank renewal forms to send to families. After those are sent, a new vendor, Davis Direct of Montgomery, will assume the role of sending out the forms.
Commentary:
On one hand, I can understand how mistakes happen. Mistakes will always happen. On the other hand, I strongly disagree with the decision to make things "convenient" by including sensitive personal information in mailings. I hope that the State of Alabama has since decided to cease this practice.
Past Breaches:
Unknown
Posts Atom 1.0
the state should cease including confidential information in mailings.
...........................
jim dunn
Addiction Recovery Alabama
http:// http://www.addictionrecovery.net ">Addiction Recovery Alabama/
Reply to this
well i am very much new to this site and it was found that this blog is very interesting one.Well breach of anything should be booked under the law.Leakage of confidential information also comes under breach.
==========================================
raj
Alabama Treatment Centers
Reply to this
The number of children in Alabama with health care coverage has grown significantly in the last year because all kids is a low-cost, comprehensive health care coverage program for children under age 19. Benefits include well child check ups and immunizations, sick child doctor visits, dental care, hospitalization, mental health and substance abuse services, and much more.
=============
Ricky
HTTP://www.treatmentcenters.org/alabama
Reply to this