ProMedica Bay Park Hospital in Oregon, Ohio, has begun notifying 594 patients their personal and health information may have been inappropriately accessed by a now-former employee, according to a report in the Toledo Blade.
The notifications follow a discovery that between April 2013 and April 2014, an employee had been accessing patient records without a legitimate, work-related reason for doing so, according to the report.
"ProMedica Bay Park Hospital values patient privacy and deeply regrets that this incident occurred," said hospital officials in a statement. "The hospital is taking this matter very seriously. ProMedica immediately deactivated the employee's access to patient information and the individual is no longer employed by ProMedica. ProMedica Bay Park Hospital has completed an internal investigation and is taking precautions to prevent any further health information breaches. This includes additional training for employees to ensure they understand and follow patient information access policies."
Because this breach affects more than 500 people, it has been reported to HHS, according to a KLTV report.
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