Three employees at Massachusetts’ largest health care system have been fired over a “privacy incident” involving patients’ personal information.
Mass. Brigham General said in a news release Friday that he was notifying certain Massachusetts residents that unauthorized access to their information may have been granted earlier this year.
People who may have been affected include patients at Mass General Brigham facilities. Affected data includes names, addresses, medical records, dates of birth, email addresses, telephone numbers, health insurance policy numbers, clinical visit information, Social Security numbers, and credit card numbers.
“Some of this information for MGB may have been related to guarantors. A guarantor is the person who pays the bill for health care services,” the health care system said.
People who have insurance with Mass General Brigham Health Plan may also have been affected, with names, addresses, medical records, dates of birth, email addresses, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers, health insurance policy numbers and clinical information at risk.
The healthcare system says it discovered between April 2 and April 4 that the data “may have been accessible to unauthorized persons unrelated to MGBHP and MGB.” An investigation was initiated and completed on May 28.
The organization found that a Mass General Brigham Health Plan employee “may have allowed an unauthorized person to perform some of the employee’s job duties and view some of the personal information of MGBHP members between July 31, 2023 and April 2, 2024.” It also found that two Mass General Brigham employees “may have allowed an unauthorized person to perform some of the employees’ job duties and view some of the personal information of MGB patients between February 26, 2024 and February 4. April 2024”.
The employees were “immediately terminated,” the health care system said.
People whose information was involved will receive a notification letter, the organization said.
“MGBHP and MGB are fully committed to protecting the information entrusted to them and sincerely regret that this incident occurred,” the press release reads.
People with questions should call Mass General Brigham Health Plan at 1-888-268-7164 or Mass General Brigham at 1-888-826-9548 between 8 am and 9 pm Monday through Friday.
