Bethesda Hospital

The covered entity (CE), Bethesda Hospital, reported that an employee impermissibly accessed the electronic protected health information (ePHI) of 18,477 individuals. The ePHI involved included names, dates of birth, addresses, health insurance information, clinical information, and Social Security numbers. The CE notified HHS, affected individuals, the media, and posted substitute notice on its website. In response to the breach, the CE sanctioned the responsible employee and retrained workforce members on the requirements to protect patient privacy and security. Additional administrative safeguards were added to better protect its ePHI. OCR provided the CE with technical assistance regarding the Breach Notification Rule.