ConnectiCare reports inadvertent release of members’ personal data

Officials with Farmingtonbased health care insurer ConnectiCare said this week a computer system’s error resulted in the accidental release of some personal information for about 1,200 of it members.

The inadvertent release of information involving 1,196 ConnectiCare members represents just under 6 percent of the insurer’s customer base. It resulted in the names, member ID numbers, dates of services, claim numbers, types of services, provider names and the amounts billed, allowed and paid.

Kim Kann, assistant vice president of public relations and corporate communications, for ConnectiCare, said “protecting our member’s personal information is a responsibility we take very seriously.”

“As soon as we learned of the system error, we promptly corrected it, informed our impacted members of the incident, and helped them protect their personal information,” Kann said. “Any members that have additional questions on the incident should call ConnectiCare Member Services.”

Company officials learned of the error on March 18.

The ConnectiCare members who were affected by the error did not have their Social Security numbers or any of their financial information exposed, according to company officials. Because the risk of financial harm was low and member other financial information was not released, ConnectiCare will not be offering free credit monitoring to those who where affected.

The computer system error occurred when a communication intended for one of the doctors whose services are covered by ConnectiCare was mailed to an incorrect address. The company then processed a request to reprint the Explanation of Payment and the system error caused the statement details to be sent to other members.

After an internal analysis by company officials, ConnectiCare determined the re-printed statements were mailed between July 2021 and March 2022. To date, there has not been misuse of any member information, according to company officials

The system error that caused the problem has since been corrected. Those individuals who inadvertently received the Explanation of Payment of other members have been asked to return the statements or to destroy it.