Allina Email Mixup Sends Basic Patient Info to 250K Others

A computer glitch at Allina Hospitals and Clinics sent an email message with basic info on eight patients to 250,000 others, KSTP-TV reported Friday. 

The message contained email addresses for the eight. That was enough to reveal (or suggest) their names, place of work and status as patients ().

It happened, the report said, after the eight email accounts bounced the original message back to Allina's computer, which then re-sent the message with their email addresses included to the original 250,000 recipients.

"We're no longer sending mass emails until we figure this out," an Allina spokesman told KSTP.

May Breach, Firings
The incident comes seven months after at Unity Hospital in Fridley and four workers at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids for accessing data.

According to Allina, those fired had peeked at patient records related to of Trevor Vance Robinson-Davis, 19, at Unity Hospital. 

Allina's tough stance on enforcing patient confidentiality policy was lauded by the Star Tribune's editorial board as "."

Federal Law
Patient confidentiality is a matter of federal law known as HIPAA, the KSTP report noted, but U.S. Sen. Al Franken (DFL-MN) last month decried a weak record of governement sanctions.