UConn Health Center suffers data breach

Approximately 1,400 patient records of the University of Connecticut Health Center were inappropriately accessed by a former employee. The Farmington organization learned of the privacy breach on Jan. 7.

The records included names, addresses, dates of birth and in some cases, Social Security numbers and other health information.

According to a statement on its website, the organization said, “All Health Center employees are required to undergo training about patient privacy upon employment, and education is reinforced with ongoing training. The Health Center is currently evaluating all education and monitoring efforts to ensure ongoing compliance."

“We sincerely regret the inconvenience and concern this may cause our patients,” said the Health Center’s privacy officer, Iris Mauriello. “The actions of one person do not define the integrity of our entire workforce and all of our collective efforts to ensure the privacy of health records. Our patients rely on each of us to ensure safe and responsible use of the information with which we have been entrusted. We take that very seriously,” she added.

The university is sending affected patients instructions on protecting themselves from identity theft, and is offering two years of free credit monitoring services along with insurance to assist if any related identify theft results.