HHS OCR breach portal (HIPAA breaches affecting 500 or more individuals) Primary notice
Posted on the HHS Office for Civil Rights breach portal with a submission date of Feb. 13, 2017.
- Organization as reported
- St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, AZ
- Entity type as reported
- Healthcare Provider
- Category as reported
Unauthorized Access/Disclosure
- Location of information as reported
- Electronic Medical Record
- Submission date
- Feb. 13, 2017
- Observed by BreachRecords
- 2026-10-18 16:15 UTC (revision 14272, row:5411)
- Archived copy
- Held in the private archive (provenance)
A part-time clinical employee of the covered entity (CE), St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, a Dignity Health facility in Arizona, impermissibly accessed the protected health information (PHI) of patients. The breach affected the full names, dates of birth, diagnoses/conditions, and medications of approximately 623 individuals. The CE provided breach notification to HHS, affected individuals, and the media, and also provided substitute notice. Following the breach, the CE sanctioned the employee responsible for the incident and reported the employee to his licensing board. In response to the incident, the CE conducted a thorough audit of the employee’s medical record access during the entire term of his employment. OCE obtained assurances that the CE implemented the corrective actions listed above. In this case, the sanction included termination of employment.