Bellaire, Texas-based Harris Health has fired an employee who shared patients’ EHR data with unauthorized people over the course of several years.
The safety-net health started notifying several thousand patients Oct. 3 who were affected by the data breach, which occurred between January 2011 and March 2021.
Harris Health said it discovered the incident in February 2021 and engaged a forensic firm and law enforcement before terminating the staffer. The health system said it delayed patient notification as to not to impede the criminal investigation.
The organization said it was unable to determine which specific patients’ data was exposed so it is contacting all patients whose EHR data may have been accessed by the ex-employee. The breached data may have included personally identifiable information, including Social Security numbers, as well as medical records and insurance information.
The post Texas health system fires employee for sharing EHR data appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.
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