Macon Reporter

Thousands of Illinois households' personal information was mistakenly sent to the wrong addresses, state officials said.

The approximately 9,000 affected residents with information connected to the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services and the state Department of Human Services, KHQA reported in late February, for the Integrated Eligibility System.

The IES is used to monitor benefits eligibility for the state's medical and financial assistance programs.

The issue occurred due to a change of address file from the Postal Service, which was wrongly uploaded to the state's database, changing the address of 8,848 households.

Notices were mailed to those households, however, since the addresses were incorrect, the wrong people received the correspondences.

The information included on the notices varied but compromised personal information included the names, case numbers, medical assistance status, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and/or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits information, dates of birth, and medical information numbers and coverage dates.

One mailing included a Social Security number and five others included bank account numbers.

Last week's incident is not the first time that personal information has been compromised because of a National Change of Address registry mismatch. A similar incident was widely reported in April 2018.

In that incident, blamed on a technical glitch, mailing personal information, including names, health insurance and medical and financial information, and birth dates, were sent to 4,136 people at the wrong addresses. Those mailings did not include medical information or social security numbers.

Then as now, notices have been sent to affected individuals at residents' correct addresses.

Anyone with questions or concerns should contact the HFS HIPAA/Privacy Officer by mail at 201 S. Grand Ave. E., Springfield, IL 62763, or by email at HFS.Privacy.Officer@illinois.gov.