Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services Notifies 11,000 Consumers About Breach of Protected Health Information

March 1, 2018

TOPEKA, Kan. – The Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) has begun to notify individual consumers about a recent incident in which personal or protected health information was disseminated to a specific group of KDADS business associates.

On February 23, 2018, KDADS became aware of a potential breach of personal or protected health information after an employee sent an unauthorized email containing personal or protected health information to a group of current KDADS business associates.

When notified, KDADS immediately began to reach out to the business associates and to affected consumers. Additionally, KDADS is actively investigating this matter to determine how the incident occurred, and the agency has put in place additional safeguards to ensure that an incident like this this does not occur again.

To date, KDADS has verified that the personal or protected health information was only disclosed to the agency’s business associates. Contracts/business associate agreements protect this information from further dissemination, inappropriate or unauthorized use, and/or disclosure. Currently KDADS has no evidence to indicate that the information has been misused or disclosed publicly.

The email contained an attachment which included consumer names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, gender, in-home services program participation information and Medicaid identification numbers. No banking, credit card or driver license information was included.

All involved consumers identified by KDADS will be sent an individual letter explaining the situation. Please check the KDADS website at http://www.kdads.ks.gov for any additional information, which will be posted as it becomes available. Consumers and other interested persons may contact KDADS by telephone without incurring charges at 1-800-432-3535. Please leave a message for Kahlea Porter requesting a return call.

KDADS apologizes sincerely to the consumers affected for any distress or inconvenience this may cause. KDADS is undertaking an immediate review of policies and procedures relevant to preventing a similar situation from occurring.

Options for consumers who want to take additional action to protect themselves:

• Some state laws allow you to place a security freeze on your credit reports. This would prohibit a credit reporting agency from releasing any information from your credit report without your written permission.
• You may order a copy of your credit report free of charge. You are entitled to receive one free credit report per year from each of the three major credit bureaus listed below.
• You may place a fraud alert on your credit report. This can help prevent someone from opening additional accounts in your name or changing your existing accounts. You can call any of the three major credit bureaus listed below to place the fraud alert request.