Staunton, Va.-based Valley Family Medicine is notifying 8,500 patients of a security incident after two employees printed and misused a mailing list, a hospital spokesperson confirmed to Becker's Hospital Review.
In July, two employees printed the mailing list, which contained the names and addresses of nearly 8,500 VFM patients. One of the employees used the list to generate postcard notifications that informed and invited the patients to a new practice.
VFM discovered the breach in September and launched an investigation into the incident, which revealed the only patient information that had been exposed were names and addresses. VFM officials were able to obtain the mailing list and do not believe any other copies exist.
The employees involved no longer work for VFM, nor do they have access to any of the hospital's information. VFM added that it has taken steps to inform its employees about the breach to prevent future incidents.
More articles on cybersecurity:
Cybercrime tops Americans' crime worries
Survey: 5 ways businesses secure corporate data on personal devices
A data breach cost $3.6M on average in 2017: 6 things to know