Brigham and Women’s Hospital alerts research study participants of “privacy incident”
Hospital officials at Brigham and Women’s are alerting nearly 1,000 individuals of a “privacy incident” after personal information from a research study and quality improvement project was posted to a public website.
On June 8, the hospital learned that graphs, “created to illustrate certain information o share with others in the healthcare community through the use of the public version of a commonly used data analytics tool called Tableau,” were posted on the internet.
These graphs inadvertently included a publicly accessible link to some personal and health information collected in connection with the study or project.
The link regarding the research study was publicly accessible between February 25, 2018, and June 13, 2023, and the link regarding the quality improvement project was publicly accessible between January 14, 2023, and June 13, 2023.
Officials immediately conducted a review and promptly had the graphs and link removed on June 13.
Hospital officials said the data linked to the graphs did not involve access to or release of Social Security Numbers, financial account numbers, health insurance information, or debit/credit card numbers.
The personal information disclosed may have included individuals’ names, addresses, medical record numbers, dates of birth, email address, and phone number, said officials.
The clinical information disclosed may have included individuals’ diagnoses, lab results, medications, and procedures collected as part of the research study or quality improvement project.
“Appropriate steps have been taken to mitigate and help prevent incidents like this from occurring in the future, including providing privacy and security reminders regarding the use of Tableau,” said officials.
If you believe your personal and or clinical information was exposed you can contact BWH at bwhcHIPAA@partners.org.
The hospital has also begun reaching out to affected individuals and has provided notice on its website as permitted by HIPAA.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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