- State
- MA
- Covered entity type
- Business Associate
- Individuals affected
- 24,750
- Business associate present
- Yes
- Type of breach
- Theft
- Location of breached information
- Paper/Films
- First seen by InfoSec Signals
- 9/23/2026
- Last seen in OCR export
- 9/23/2026
OCR description
A Boston Globe employee discovered the unsecured paper medical records of Pioneer Valley Pathology, a group practice with offices inside Holyoke Medical Center (HMC), at a trash transfer station. The breach affected approximately 24,750 individuals. The PHI involved in the breach included names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers, insurance information, and medical information. HMC is not the covered entity (CE) responsible for this breach and it field the breach report in error. OCR provided HMC with technical assistance related to breach notification. OCR opened a compliance review against the CE responsible for this breach.
Change history
- 9/23/2026Added to OCR's archive list
Source: HHS OCR Breach Portal, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights about this source
Records are reproduced as published; entity names and figures are OCR's.