Data Breach of Mass General Vendor Exposes Info of 4,300 Dental Patients

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has acknowledged a data breach in which an unauthorized individual gained access to a third-party vendor's electronic files containing patient information.

Patterson Dental Supply Inc. (PDSI) is a vendor that provides software to help manage dental practice information for various providers, including MGH. On Feb. 8, 2016, the organization learned that an unauthorized individual gained access to electronic files used on PDSI’s systems which contained some MGH dental practice information. A report in the Boston Globe said that the information of some 4,300 dental patients was exposed in the breach. 

The information on the files included patient names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers and, in some instances, may have also included dates and type of dental appointments, dental provider names and medical record numbers, according to an MGH privacy notice on its website. This incident did not involve any unauthorized access to any of MGH’s systems or to any files maintained by MGH, officials attest. 

Patterson Dental Supply has taken steps to enhance security following the breach, MGH officials said.