Regulator-posted notice

Breach notice filed by Brigham and Women’s Hospital (December 2020)

Organization named: Brigham and Women’s Hospital Provisional: identity as filed, not yet matched to the directory
Type as the source lists it: Unauthorized Access/Disclosure

What the sources say

HHS OCR breach portal (HIPAA breaches affecting 500 or more individuals) Primary notice

Posted on the HHS OCR breach portal (HIPAA breaches affecting 500 or more individuals) with a submission date of Dec. 8, 2020.

Organization as reported: Brigham and Women’s Hospital, MA
Entity type as reported: Healthcare Provider
Category as reported: Unauthorized Access/Disclosure
Location of information as reported: Email
Submission date: Dec. 8, 2020
Observed by BreachRecords: 2026-10-18 16:15 UTC (revision 12464, row:3603)
Archived copy: Held in the private archive (provenance)

The covered entity (CE), Brigham and Women’s Hospital, reported that an employee sent a newsletter via email to 882 recipients and failed to use the blind copy function, thereby, exposing the email addresses of all recipients. The CE notified HHS, affected individuals, and the media. Following the breach, the responsible employee was sanctioned and retrained to prevent future incidents of this nature. In addition, the CE implemented additional administrative, technical, and security safeguards to better protect its ePHI. OCR obtained assurances that the CE implemented the corrective actions noted.
The source's own words, from the revision above.

Figures, per source

882 individuals affected (total reported), as reported by the HHS OCR breach portal (HIPAA breaches affecting 500 or more individuals), source date Dec. 8, 2020, revision observed 2026-10-18.

Each figure is one source's figure with the basis that source gave. Figures from different sources are shown side by side and are not added, averaged or chosen between.

Timeline

Source dates are the dates the sources give. Observation dates are when BreachRecords recorded each revision.

2020-12-08Submission date at the HHS OCR breach portal (HIPAA breaches affecting 500 or more individuals)
2026-10-18Observed by BreachRecords (revision 12464)
2026-10-19Approved by a reviewer

Organizations linked by a reviewer

Brigham and Women’s Hospital Named as the covered entity Provisional: identity as filed, not yet matched to the directory Linked 2026-10-19, method provisional.

Archived evidence

3dbc27dd5742e041cc1e7fe18cc669e2901fbd3b86b7007ed27948ff4d406e1f
text/csv, 5,530,996 bytes, from the HHS OCR breach portal (HIPAA breaches affecting 500 or more individuals), retrieved 2026-10-18 16:15 UTC. Archived privately · Provenance · Source page

Records reflect source filings as of the dates shown. BreachRecords is not a regulator.

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