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Regulator-posted notice

Breach notice filed by Massachusetts General Hospital (December 2018)

Organization named: Massachusetts General 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. 14, 2018.

Organization as reported
Massachusetts General Hospital, MA
Entity type as reported
Healthcare Provider
Category as reported
Unauthorized Access/Disclosure
Location of information as reported
Paper/Films
Submission date
Dec. 14, 2018
Observed by BreachRecords
2026-10-18 16:15 UTC (revision 13601, row:4740)
Archived copy
Held in the private archive (provenance)

Due to an error during a mail merge, a business associate (BA) sent letters to patients’ home addresses with the wrong patients’ names on them, causing the protected health information (PHI) of 580 patients to be disclosed to other patients. This letter notified patients that their doctor at the covered entity (CE), Massachusetts General Hospital, was retiring and included patients’ names. The CE provided breach notification to HHS and affected individuals. Following the breach, the CE retrained staff on safeguarding PHI during a mail merge. The CE also terminated the BA relationship and began handling all mailings internally. OCR obtained assurances that the CE implemented the corrective actions noted above.

The source's own words, from the revision above.

Figures, per source

  • 588 individuals affected (total reported), as reported by the HHS OCR breach portal (HIPAA breaches affecting 500 or more individuals), source date Dec. 14, 2018, 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.

  • Submission date at the HHS OCR breach portal (HIPAA breaches affecting 500 or more individuals)
  • Observed by BreachRecords (revision 13601)
  • Approved by a reviewer

Organizations linked by a reviewer

  • Massachusetts General 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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