Andy Cerota reports:

Memorial Hermann Hospital is apologizing after a former employee accessed the medical records of more than 10,000 patients.

A hospital spokesperson tells Local 2 News that protecting and securing patient information is a top priority. Letters are going out to those patients right now and Memorial Hermann has set up a call center for those who’ve been affected.

The case broke wide open last month. A hospital spokesperson tells Local 2 on July 7 the hospital learned a former employee had accessed the electronic medical records of 10,604 patients outside of the employee’s normal job duties. This went on for almost seven years — from December 2007 to July 2014, according to the hospital.

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This is not Memorial Hermann’s first insider breach. In 2010, a former patient care assistant was sentenced to prison for bank fraud and stealing the identities of patients. And before that, in 2003, there was this employee wrongdoing case .