Mailing error by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida misdirects almost 7400 Explanation of Benefits Notices

As noted yesterday, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida was one of four entities added to HHS’s breach tool as recently reporting a breach.  I contacted BCBSFL and they kindly sent me a link to a press release they had issued on March 7 explaining the incident:

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Corrects and Alerts Customers of System Error Resulting in Some Member Information Being Sent to Incorrect Addresses

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In late January 2011, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida (BCBSF) discovered that, because of a system error, it had inadvertently mailed some member health information to incorrect addresses. BCBSF regrets that this error occurred. BCBSF fixed the issue the same day it was discovered and current addresses are now in place for all of these members. BCBSF has evaluated its systems and made the appropriate changes to prevent this error from reoccurring.

The company recently converted to a new source of customer mailing address information. This new system tracks both prior and current member mailing addresses. During the system conversion, a limited number of old customer mailing addresses were inadvertently identified as the current addresses. Fewer than 7,400 members (out of nearly 4 million members) were impacted when their information was mailed to a former mailing address during the three month period since the system conversion. The mail sent to the former addresses included explanation of benefit forms. No social security numbers, date of birth or other financial information were included on the information sent to the incorrect addresses.

BCBSF has taken the appropriate steps to rectify this situation and has contacted the affected members.  Members who think they may have been affected by this incident and who have not received any notification from the company should call this dedicated customer service number:  1-877-526-1013

According to HHS’s breach tool, BCBSFL reported that the incident occurred on October 16, 2010 and affected 7,366 members.