Employee fired from Sask. health region after 900 patient records breached
Employee worked for Heartland Health Region
An employee of the Heartland Health Region has been fired and several other measures taken after the patient records of approximately 900 people were accessed, a breach of the Health Information Protection Act.
"The privacy of personal health information is something we take very seriously and we extend our sincere apologies to those patients affected by this breach," Greg Cummings, president and CEO for the Heartland Health Region said in a release.
According to the release someone reported an alleged breach of privacy in July of this year. The region launched an investigation and found that patient electronic medical records had been inappropriately accessed over the course of 14 months.
In addition to being terminated, the employee's professional association was informed of action taken. The region also sent out a letter to all the patients affected and informed the Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner, the Ministry of Health and eHealth Saskatchewan.
According to the release, the region has brought other corrective measures including: reviewing and limiting the employees who have access to records; reviewing internal approval processes when new electronic systems are implemented; developing an auditing process and reviewing staff education.
The Heartland Health Region covers more than 41,000 square kilometres in west central Saskatchewan.