Target Corporation Health Plan

During the maintenance of a printer press, a technician incorrectly changed a printer setting resulting in errors on printed explanation of benefit (EOB) letters sent by a subcontractor on behalf of a business associate (BA), Kaiser Permanente Insurance Company. The error impacted the letters of 719 individuals. The protected health information (PHI) involved in the breach included names, addresses, annual deductibles, annual out of pocket maximum, dollars spent “year to date” towards the deductible, and out of pocket maximums. The BA provided breach notification to HHS, affected individuals, and the media. Following the breach, the subcontractor BA updated its procedures to include additional oversight and additional print testing during printer updates or maintenance. OCR’s investigation resulted in the subcontractor BA improving safeguards in the printing of PHI for the covered entity's health plan.