Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho is notifying patients of a potential data breach after emails regarding a new patient portal were sent to the wrong email addresses.
The emails contained patients' first and last names, but no other personal or health information was included. Individuals who erroneously received the emails would not be able to access the portal of the intended recipients, according to a notice on Planned Parenthood's website.
The emails were sent June 28, and Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho discovered the error the same day. The healthcare organization said it shut down the portal upon realizing what had happened.
"We immediately determined it was an isolated occurrence, and it was resolved promptly," according to the notice. "We have no evidence that any of the information involved in this incident has been misused in nay way."
The incident affects 10,700 patients, according to the HHS Office for Civil Rights breach notification portal.
Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho said in the notice it is reinforcing existing privacy policies and technological protocols, as well as considering additional safeguards, to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
More articles on data breaches:
3 tips on how not to pay a ransom
Data breach affects 68M Dropbox users
Calif. health plan reports breach due to unauthorized access