UPMC patient data illegally accessed by third-party vendor

nformation of patients treated at Pittsburgh-based UPMC’s emergency departments was accessed and copied by the employee of a third-party vendor, according to an announcement.

The data of about 2,200 patients was illegally disclosed by the employee, who worked for Medical Management, a call center at a company providing billing services to UPMC’s physician group.

Information accessed includes names, Social Security numbers and birth dates.”We apologize for any anxiety or inconvenience that this incident may cause for our patients,” John Houston, vice president of privacy and information security of UPMC, said in a statement. “We hold our vendors to the same high privacy standards that we have for ourselves. Based upon the ongoing investigation, we will make whatever changes might be necessary to further enhance our already stringent privacy protections, especially those that apply to our business partners.”

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