On March 17, 2023, the Health Plan of San Mateo filed a notice of data breach with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights after learning that an unauthorized party was able to access confidential member information stored in an employee’s email account. Based on the company’s official filing, the incident resulted in an unauthorized party gaining access to consumers’ names, dates of birth, member identification numbers and protected health information. After confirming that consumer data was leaked, HPSM began sending out data breach notification letters to all individuals who were impacted by the recent data security incident.

If you received a data breach notification from the Health Plan of San Mateo, it is essential you understand what is at risk and what you can do about it. To learn more about how to protect yourself from becoming a victim of fraud or identity theft and what your legal options are in the wake of the Health Plan of San Mateo data breach, please see our recent piece on the topic here.

What We Know So Far About the Health Plan of San Mateo Breach

News of the Health Plan of San Mateo data breach is still fresh; however, what we know at this point comes from the company’s filing with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights, as well as a notice posted on the HPSM website. According to these sources, on January 17, 2023, HPSM learned that an unauthorized party had gained access to an employee’s email account through a successful phishing attack. In response, HPSM began working with a third-party data security firm to investigate the incident and determine what, if any, member data was leaked as a result.

The HPSM investigation confirmed that some of the files that were accessible by the unauthorized party contained members’ confidential information.

Upon discovering that sensitive consumer data was made available to an unauthorized party, the Health Plan of San Mateo began to review the affected files to determine what information was compromised and which consumers were impacted. While the breached information varies depending on the individual, it may include your name, date of birth, member identification number and protected health information.

On March 17, 2023, the Health Plan of San Mateo sent out data breach letters to all individuals whose information was compromised as a result of the recent data security incident.

More Information About Health Plan of San Mateo

Founded in 1987, the Health Plan of San Mateo is a community-based health plan located in South San Francisco, California. The company provides a variety of health plans, including those under Medi-Cal, CareAdvantage, Whole Child Model, HealthWorx HMO, and the San Mateo County ACE Program. HPSM covers approximately one in five residents of San Mateo County or about 155,000 individuals in total. The Health Plan of San Mateo employs more than 275 people and generates approximately $252 million in annual revenue.