The $51.11 Check Is In The Mail
Checks are in the mail for more than 50,000 patients and former patients of Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital and Santa Ynez Valley Hospital.
A patient at any of those hospitals between 2009 and 2013 could receive one of those checks.
However, at first glance, the check and letter attached could be mistaken for junk mail.
“The name on it seemed like a consumer product so I didn’t think much of it,” said Gayle Eidelson.
The wording includes InSync, similar to the music group ‘N Sync. However, in this case, it is a legal notice that reads: Rice v. InSync, et al. The $51.11 check was cut from a bank out of Dublin, Ohio.
“It had no phone number to check on it, but it did have a website,” said Eidelson. “So when we researched that, we found it to be about Cottage Hospital.”
It turns out one of Eidelson’s sons was in the Cottage Hospital emergency room at the same time the hospital experienced a security breach in one of its servers in December 2013.
According to Cottage Health System at the time of the breach, 32,000 patients were affected as far back as 2009.
The incident made local headlines. Cottage Hospital officials ensured the public they were reviewing security measures and this type of breach would not happen again.
Now, two years later, the checks are in the mail.
“This was totally not on our radar,” Eidelson said.
It likely won’t be on the radar of the tens of thousands of people in the community receiving a check because of wording on the paperwork, or, a lack thereof.
“First of all, it required access to the internet to research what it was about and names. In no way did it indicate anything to do with Cottage Hospital,” Eidelson said.
NewsChannel 3 contacted Cottage Hospital for a response, which is as follows:
Regarding the Rice v. InSync Settlement Check
Members of the community may have received a check in the amount of $51.11 referencing Rice v. InSync, et al. We’ve received a few questions regarding this check.
The check is legitimate.
Last year, Cottage Health chose to settle a case regarding accidental exposure of patient data, and the check mailed is the distribution resulting from that class action settlement. The court approved the settlement, and there was no finding of legal liability.
Cashing the check draws funds from the settlement payment that our insurance provider made available. That sum is already paid, regardless of whether recipients cash their checks. Cottage Health will not receive records of who cashed the checks.
The checks are not being mailed or administered by Cottage Health, but if community members have questions, the settlement administrator provided a website address in the letter that was attached to the checks. They asked that inquiries be provided to them in writing at the mailing address listed in their letter.
Those who receive one of the checks have 180 days to cash it. Otherwise, the funds will end up at the state controller’s office, forcing recipients to go through a number of steps to verify their identify to obtain the money.
The following website offers additional information:
Rice v. Insync, et al.,
c/o GARDEN CITY GROUP
P.O. Box 10142,
Dublin, Ohio 43017-3142
Toll-Free Telephone: (855) 382-6436;
Email: info@ricesettlement.com
