Bethesda Hospital, part of Coral Gables, Fla.-based Baptist Health, said it recently terminated an employee for accessing patients' medical records and altering a home care patient's health order.
The Boynton Beach, Fla., hospital posted a notice to its website Jan. 29 to alert patients of the incident. The hospital l said it discovered on Dec. 1 that an employee "impermissibly accessed protected health information and altered a home health order that was used to provide a patient with home care services."
The hospital launched an investigation immediately after discovering the breach, fired the employee and alerted law enforcement. The hospital said people who were patients between June 1, 2019, and Dec. 2, 2020, may have been affected by the incident. Information that may have been compromised includes name, dates of birth, addresses and Social Security numbers.
The hospital is offering patients affected by the incident one year of identity protection and credit-monitoring services. It said it is also looking to increase security measures to protect patients' health information.