Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente began issuing notices Sept. 27 to 990 Sacramento-area patients that their information may have been exposed, according to local news station ABC10.
Kaiser Permanente discovered Aug. 19 that an employee's email account had been accessed by an unknown and unauthorized third party. Immediately, the healthcare provider took action to disable the hacker's access to the email account.
Patient data that may have been exposed included names, dates of service, dates of birth, gender, provider names, provider comments, payer names, diagnoses, medical history, benefit information, insurance coverage status and treatment information.
Kaiser Permanente said there is no evidence that any patient information was viewed, used or copied. Additionally, the provider said it is unaware that any of the information has been misused.
"Kaiser Permanente is taking steps to prevent this type of error from occurring in the future," a statement from the provider said. "Upon learning of this issue, we changed the password to the provider's email account and have undertaken additional measures to further strengthen Kaiser Permanente's email security controls."