Tammy Scott-Wallace reports: The province’s access to information and privacy commissioner has launched an investigation into the proper safekeeping of medical records in light of concerns in the Sussex area. Last month patients of Dr. Cathy Hurd, who left her practice in Sussex before Christmas to work outside the province, were outraged when they received…
Month: March 2011
PR for EHRs: More to the Story Than Data Breaches
Gienna Shaw reports: […] It doesn’t matter how many or how few times a healthcare organization’s data is breached or even if it is only potentially breached. In the healthcare industry, it takes just one event—a lost laptop, a misfired e-mail, or a website that leaks sensitive, user-specific data—to make headlines. […] Stories in the…
Texas House approves bill requiring ultrasounds before abortions
The Texas House of Representatives on Monday displayed its utter contempt for women’s privacy by voting 107-42 [roll call] to approve legislation that requires women seeking an abortion to undergo an ultrasound before the procedure is performed. The bill [HB 15 text; materials] requires doctors to conduct a vaginal ultrasound and display the images at…
Hard drive containing personal information of some Western Michigan University students and faculty missing
Gabrielle Russon reports: A backup hard drive containing names and social security numbers of several hundred current and former students and faculty members is missing, Western Michigan University spokeswoman Cheryl Roland said Tuesday. The hard drive, which contained a WMU department’s academic records, was first noticed missing from an office desk on Jan. 25. Roland…
Corporate data breach average cost hits $7.2 million
The cost of a data breach went up to $7.2 million last year up from $6.8 million in 2009 with the average cost per compromised record in 2010 reaching $214, up 5% from 2009. The Ponemon Institute’s annual study of data loss costs this year looked at 51 organizations who agreed to discuss the impact of losing…
Ca: Central Health employee terminated for privacy breach
Kevin Higgins reports: Central Health played its zero tolerance card March 7, terminating an employee of James Paton Memorial Regional Health Centre for breaches of privacy. The health authority’s chief executive officer, Karen McGrath, said the employee “inappropriately accessed” personal health information of at least 80 reports belonging to at least 19 different people during…