More than 1,300 patients have had their personal information “inappropriately accessed” by a former employee of Alberta Health Services.
The electronic health records were accessed between January 2004 and July 2015 through the Netcare and Netcare Personal Directory systems. Another 11-thousand-500 people also had their demographic information viewed by the individual.
AHS says it first heard about the potential issue through a complaint from another employee, which was followed up by an audit. Anyone who had their info accessed will received a letter in the next week.
The news comes two days after the Alberta College of Paramedics found a breach in its navigation portal due to a software update. The regulatory college regulates the province’s emergency medical responders, emergency medical technicians, and emergency medical technologists.
ACP says the compromise happened between 7:30 p.m. on September 23rd and 11:30 a.m. the next day. During that time, people with a login could view another practitioner’s personal information. Someone outside the organization could have also created a new username and password and see the info, which five people did.