“Fortunately, we noticed the problem early and stopped additional mailings. We worked closely with other state agencies to correct the information in the system, investigate how the error occurred and determine how many enrollees were affected,” said TennCare Director Darin Gordon. “We also have put in place protocols to help ensure such an error doesn’t occur again.”

 

Although there is no evidence that this information has been improperly accessed or misused in any way, TennCare is providing all affected enrollees one year of free comprehensive identity theft safeguards provided by Kroll Inc. that includes continuous credit monitoring, as well as enhanced identity theft consultation and restoration services.

 

Enrollees whose personal information was affected will be notified by mail the week of February 22. Included in the mailing to affected enrollees, will be the type of information that was disclosed – such as name, date of birth, and Social Security number – and detailed information on how to sign up for Kroll’s identity theft safeguards that are being offered.

The identity theft services are offered to affected enrollees free of charge. Enrollees need to review the mailing to understand the type of services offered, sign up for the free services, and check their credit report on a frequent basis. 

 

 

 “On a daily basis, we receive more than a million electronic records from entities with which we do business,” said Gordon. “We have systems in place to ensure that data is correct. Unfortunately, in this case, the files were corrupt. The quick action taken by staff who detected the issue, however, prevented the situation from escalating further.”

 

 Personal information of the affected enrollees was immediately corrected in the system, and the information was re-mailed to the correct addresses. Enrollees who received an incorrect mailing are urged to simply leave the letter or card in its original envelope and write “return to sender” on the outside of the envelope. No postage is required. 

 

TennCare and the Department of Human Services, which helps provide eligibility determination services, have reviewed and strengthened the protocol to help safeguard against this type of system error.  In the future, these file transfers will undergo more intense analysis and testing to ensure that accurate data is sent.