Colorado Medicaid officials mail PHI to wrong patients

The Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing is notifying Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries that their protected health information has been unintentionally compromised in a mailing error.

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According to The Denver Post, the error stemmed from a computer glitch that caused confidential information to be sent to the wrong recipients. More than 3,000 Colorado residents who receive state benefits may have been affected, according to the report.

The department learned of the error when a resident who received a letter with someone else’s information notified the department of the incorrect mailing July 1. The Governor’s Office of Information Technology corrected the error July 5. Letters with incorrect information were mailed between May 25 and July 5, according to the breach notification.

Compromised information includes names, addresses, state identification numbers, Medicaid case numbers, employer name, income, amount of an Advanced Premium Tax Credit and if individuals were approved or denied for medical assistance programs. No Social Security numbers or other financial information was disclosed.

More articles on data breaches:

Lawrence General Hospital reports data breach due to missing thumb drive
UCLA Health System faces another lawsuit for data breach affecting 4.5M patients
Cost of data breaches in 2015 surpasses overall federal IT investment

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