UW Health notifies 2k patients of privacy breach, unauthorized email access

Jessica Kim Cohen -

Madison, Wis.-based UW Health on May 25 notified patients about a potential privacy breach, according to a news release emailed to Becker's Hospital Review.

Here are four things to know.

1. An unauthorized individual on March 16 accessed a UW Health employee's email account. UW Health discovered the issue on March 28.

2. The individual had access to data for 2,036 patients in the email account, according to WBAY-TV. These files included patient names, addresses, dates of birth and medical history, among other information. It did not include medical records, Social Security numbers or financial information.

3. Upon discovering the issue, UW Health Information Systems launched an investigation, disabled the email account and reset the employee's password for the account.

4. UW Health established a dedicated call center for affected patients. The health system will also reinforce employee-focused educational efforts regarding email privacy and patient confidentiality.

Click here to view the patient notification.

Copyright © 2024 Becker's Healthcare. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy. Cookie Policy. Linking and Reprinting Policy.