St. Albans, Vt.-based Northwestern Medical Center terminated an employee who accessed its EHR without authorization to obtain the protected health information of patients, Saint Albans Messenger reported Aug. 8.
On June 9, the health system learned that the employee accessed patient names, dates of birth, home addresses, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers, account numbers, employer information, insurance information and medical history between May 21, 2021, and June 10, 2022.
Kate Laddison, director of communications at Northwestern Medical Center said the employee worked in a non-clinical position.
Northwestern Medical Center said it has sent out letters to all affected individuals, terminated the employee and is working to identify system and technology updates to improve patient confidentiality.