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Houston Methodist Hospital

Disclosed Mar 17, 20179 years ago1,417 affectedConfirmed

Official notice

A workforce member sent an email to 1,359 patients without using the “blind carbon copy” or “bcc” field, which allowed the patients to see each other’s email addresses. The covered entity (CE) provided breach notification to HHS. affected individuals, and the media. In response to the incident, the CE updated technical safeguards and re-trained its workforce members on the proper use of email when communicating with patients. OCR obtained assurances that the CE implemented the corrective actions listed above.

What is known

People affected1,417 (as reported to HHS)
DisclosedMar 17, 2017
AttackInsider
Data exposedNames, Health
SectorHealthcare · US
StatusConfirmed

Sources

Notices filed

WhereFiledPeople
HHS archivetotalMar 17, 20171,417
HHS archivetotalSep 25, 20171,359

Other breaches at Houston Methodist Hospital

BreachAffected
Disclosed Apr 17, 2020Apr 17, 20206 years agoLost or stolen device1,987
Disclosed Jan 2, 2014Jan 2, 201412 years agoLost or stolen device1,341
History of this record
  • 2026-09-25 · records: 1359 to 1417 · backfill source
  • 2026-09-25 · disclosed: 2017-09-25 to 2017-03-17 · backfill source
  • 2026-09-25 · added · backfill source

First seen 2026-09-25 (HHS archive), confirmed by HHS OCR. Record counts are as reported. Not legal advice.

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