Inappropriate disclosure to vendor announced

DALLAS – Feb. 5, 2021 – UT Southwestern Medical Center has informed affected patients of an inappropriate disclosure of their names and email addresses through the use of a third-party vendor. The vendor was used to send invitations to an event for the Kidney Cancer Program.

UT Southwestern considers the protection of our patients’ privacy of utmost importance, and we deeply regret the occurrence of this incident and any worry, distress, or difficulty that it may cause. Letters have been sent to the affected patients, who can contact the UT Southwestern Privacy Office at (214) 648-6080.

In August 2019, patient names and email addresses were disclosed to a third-party vendor, Mailchimp, which is not an approved vendor to handle patient health information. No other information was shared with Mailchimp and the patients’ email accounts were not compromised in any way. UT Southwestern recognizes the sensitive nature of our patients’ personal information, and we want to reassure those involved that we are fully committed to protecting the confidentiality of this information and that appropriate remedial actions and process changes have been taken to protect against future mishandling.