The California Department of Health Care Services inadvertently posted online nearly 14,000 Social Security numbers belonging to Medi-Cal providers in 25 counties, KCRA reports. Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program.
Details of the Breach
DHCS officials said that the confidential data were available on the state's Medi-Cal website for a period of nine days before the mistake was discovered.
According to KCRA, this is the second security breach involving In-Home Supportive Services providers in the past five months. Over the summer, a breach at the Department of Social Services put about 750,000 providers at risk.
State Response
Norman Williams -- deputy director for public affairs at DHCS -- said that the most recent breach was "inadvertent, and we sincerely regret this has happened."
He said that the agency is conducting an internal investigation on the matter.
Williams added that DHCS has offered no-cost credit-monitoring services for affected providers and has "taken some steps to protect the information more carefully" (Luery, KCRA, 12/11).