Southfield, Mich.-based Beaumont Health began notifying 1,182 patients Jan. 24 that their information may have been wrongfully disclosed, according to the Detroit Free Press.
The health system was alerted by the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission in December that an employee had allegedly disclosed the sensitive information of patients. Beaumont Health has fired the employee who is not being named because no charges have been filed.
The former employee worked in the registration department. Patient data that was allegedly leaked included names, addresses, dates of birth, contact information, Social Security numbers, treatment information and insurance information. The employee transferred the information to a person working on the behalf of a personal injury attorney between February 2017 and October 2019, reports the Detroit Free Press.
Beaumont Health will work with law enforcement if they decide to press charges against the former employee.
"Beaumont has also taken steps to improve internal procedures to identify and remediate future threats in order to minimize the risk of a similar incident in the future," the health system said in a statement, according to the Detroit Free Press.