Three employees of Massachusetts' largest health care system have been fired over a "privacy incident" concerning the personal information of patients.
Mass General Brigham said in a press release Friday that it learned earlier this year that unauthorized access to some patients' and policy holders' information may have been granted. The hospital system said it was notifying certain Massachusetts residents of the incident.
People who may have been impacted include patients at Mass General Brigham facilities. Affected data includes names, addresses, medical records, dates of birth, email addresses, phone numbers, health insurance policy numbers, clinical information about visits, 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.
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People who have insurance with Mass General Brigham Health Plan also may have been affected, with names, addresses, medical records, dates of birth, email addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, health insurance policy numbers and clinical information at risk.
The health care system says it discovered between April 2 and April 4 that the data "may have been accessible to unauthorized individuals unrelated to MGBHP and MGB." An investigation was launched and completed on May 28.
The organization found that one employee of Mass General Brigham Health Plan "may have allowed an unauthorized person to do some of the employee's job duties and see some of MGBHP members' personal information between July 31, 2023, and April 2, 2024." It also found that two Mass General Brigham employees "may have allowed an unauthorized person to do some of the employees' job duties and see some of MGB patients' personal information between February 26, 2024, and April 4, 2024."
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The employees were "immediately terminated," the health care system said.
People whose information was involved will receive a notification letter, according to the organization.
"MGBHP and MGB are fully committed to protecting the information entrusted to them, and sincerely regret that this incident occurred," the press release read.
People with questions are asked to call Mass General Brigham Health Plan at 1-888-268-7164 or Mass General Brigham at 1-888-826-9548 between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. Monday through Friday.
