Fallon Community Health Plan responds to data security incident involving Medicare beneficiary member information
Laptop stolen from vendor offices; FCHP offers free credit monitoring service to affected members
Worcester, Mass., January 24, 2008—Fallon Community Health Plan (FCHP) announced today that it has alerted regulatory authorities about a data security incident involving members of its Fallon Senior Plan and its Summit ElderCare program. Letters to all affected members have been mailed notifying them of the situation and offering free credit monitoring for 12 months. The incident is related to a vendor’s laptop computer believed to contain Fallon Senior Plan and Summit ElderCare members’ personal information that was stolen from the offices of a third-party vendor FCHP had contracted with to assist with medical claims management.
“I deeply regret that this incident occurred. I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and trouble this theft may cause our members,” said Eric H. Schultz, President and CEO, FCHP. Schultz also said FCHP is working closely with law enforcement officials and the company’s legal counsel, Epstein, Becker and Green, to recover the laptop and the data it contained. “At this time, we have no reason to believe the data on the laptop was the target of this incident, but we are taking all of these steps out of an abundance of caution on behalf of our members,” Schultz added.
FCHP is offering free credit monitoring through Equifax to affected Fallon Senior Plan and Summit ElderCare members and has set up a dedicated, toll-free number for members to call with questions or for assistance with registration. Credit monitoring will alert members to any unusual activity in their financial accounts. Fallon Senior Plan and Summit ElderCare members or family members acting on their behalf can call FCHP at 1-866-757-2061 (TDD/TTY: 1-877-608-7677), Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.to 6 p.m.
The laptop computer in question is believed to contain personal information derived from claims data for approximately 29,800 Fallon Senior Plan and Summit ElderCare members, which represents 15% of FCHP’s total membership. The laptop did not contain personal information for any other Fallon Community Health Plan members.
For more information contact:
Bob Nolan
Senior Director
508-368-9430
robert.nolan@fchp.org
Christine Cassidy
Director
508-368-9502
christine.cassidy@fchp.org
About FCHP
Founded in 1977, Fallon Community Health Plan provides health care services designed to meet the unique and changing needs of all we serve. FCHP is the only health plan in Massachusetts that is both an insurer and provider of care. Our product portfolio includes a variety of group and individual health plan options (HMO, POS, PPO, Medicaid and Medicare Advantage plans) featuring flexible and innovative benefit designs. We administer fully-insured and self-insured funding arrangements with customized services for employers. Our uniquely developed provider networks offer high-quality, cost-effective, coordinated care and give our members access to doctors and hospitals throughout Massachusetts. We also offer a broad spectrum of services and programs to ensure our members, at every stage of life, remain as healthy and productive as possible. FCHP is a provider of care through its Summit ElderCareSM program, an advanced and completely integrated program that offers seniors and their caregivers an alternative to nursing home placement. Our continued commitment to deliver high-quality health care and exceptional customer service has earned FCHP consistent ratings as one of the nation’s top health plans, and in 2007, placed our Medicare and Medicaid health plans as the best in the nation. FCHP is the only health plan in Massachusetts to have been awarded “Excellent” Accreditation by the National Committee for Quality Assurance for our HMO, Medicare Advantage and Medicaid products.