Cause of privacy breach with OHIP renewal notices still being investigated

WATERLOO REGION — A month after the province mailed thousands of incorrectly printed health card renewal notices that shared the personal information of thousands of children with strangers, it hopes to start sending out the reminders again.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services said Thursday the aim is to resume mailing the notices by the end of next week.

All health card renewal notices were suspended while the province tried to pinpoint the cause of the printing error, which came to its attention late in the last week of April after receiving calls from parents who got incorrect forms.

“At this point, we’re still continuing the analysis to get to the bottom of it,” said Harry Malhi.

A printing mistake on the double-sided form resulted in a mismatch between the mailing address on the front and the information on the back, including a full name, home address, birth date and health number.

All the incorrectly printed health card renewal notices belonged to children who have a birth date in early July.

Initially, the province reported that as many as 5,600 people were affected by the error, uncovered by The Record. Later, it said not all the notices in that particular print job were incorrect, but the exact number was not determined.

Service Ontario prints about 165,000 health card renewal notices a month in Kingston.

The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario was informed of the privacy breach on May 1 and is investigating.