MINNEAPOLIS — Allina Health is notifying thousands of patients that a medical assistant at its Inver Grove Heights clinic viewed their medical records without authorization.

The Minneapolis-based hospital and clinic system is notifying 3,800 patients of the privacy breach by letter.

Allina fired the employee and is offering no-cost financial monitoring services to those patients.

The employee had access to patients’ clinical, health insurance and demographic information.

The medical assistant performed basic tasks such as taking patients’ vital signs, and was permitted to view their records, but not the records of patients who weren’t in her care. The employee’s unauthorized viewing of records dated back to February 2010.

An Allina spokesman says there’s no evidence to suggest the employee was doing it for financial gain.