Hundreds of Ohioans who receive benefits from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services or Medicaid may have inadvertently had their information leaked by a computer error. 

According to a release, the Ohio Departments of Administrative Services, Medicaid, and Job and Family Services (ODJFS) are taking steps to address the potential disclosure of personal information in the Ohio Benefits System.

Ohio Benefits reportedly supports certain ODJFS and Medicaid programs and is administered through a contract with Accenture under the purview of DAS. 

While the issue did not impact any benefits, officials say information about recipients may have been leaked. 

Officials say they have identified three separate instances in which information was leaked. 

•       February 16, 2019: Approximately 250 users of the Ohio Benefits Self-Service Portal were impacted by a computer error. That error resulted in some of their personal information appearing in another user's account. The error was fixed the same day it was discovered.

•       March 20, 2019: A computer error resulted in information for 643 individuals (608 individuals receiving JFS benefits and 34 individuals receiving Medicaid benefits, and 1 individual receiving benefits from both agencies) within the Ohio Benefits system being erroneously mailed to five unrelated people. The issue was addressed on March 22, 2019.

•       March 20, 2019: Up to 100 clients were impacted when data entered into the Ohio Benefits Portal was incorrectly saved to the wrong account due to a computer error. A temporary solution has been put in place and a permanent solution is underway.

 A release says that the data potentially viewed in these incidents involved case and claim numbers, names, addresses, and may include contact information and dates of birth. 

However, officials say that in no instances were health or medical records viewed. 

The DAS says that out of an abundance of caution and transparency, the State is providing notification to the public and those impacted.

The release says those potentially impacted by the issue are being notified and will be offered one year of identity theft protection at no cost. 

Details on that coverage will be included in the notifications to impacted individuals.