A March 15, 2011 indictment of twelve defendants charged for their parts in an identity theft and bank fraud scheme has been unsealed. Two of the defendants, who worked for HIPAA-covered entities in Florida, and have also been charged with HIPAA violations. According to the indictment, Erica Hall was employed by Dr. Linda Green in Coral…
Author: Dissent
Medical office assistants charged criminally under HIPAA for their part in ID theft ring
A March 15, 2011 indictment of twelve defendants charged for their parts in an identity theft and bank fraud scheme has been unsealed. Two of the defendants, who worked for HIPAA-covered entities in Florida, and have also been charged with HIPAA violations. According to the indictment, Erica Hall was employed by Dr. Linda Green in…
Doctor visit text reminders violate patient privacy: Swedish health board
The Swedish health authorities have made a privacy-protective ruling about text messaging patients: Text message reminders for appointments with doctors or dentists may soon be a thing of the past in Sweden. The National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) have found them to be in breach of their rules on patient confidentiality. “It is…
ME: State Prisoner Sentenced For False Tax Claims and Misuse of Social Security Numbers
Troy D. Fears, who was formerly incarcerated at the Maine State Prison in Warren, was sentenced to 57 months in prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised release for filing false tax returns and misusing social security numbers. On February 4, 2011, Fears plead guilty to the charges. According to court records, between…
CT Attorney General investigating MidState Medical/Hartford Healthcare breach
In the aftermath of the breach involving MidState Medical Center, Connecticut’s Attorney General George Jepsen and Consumer Protection Commissioner William M. Rubenstein are asking Hartford Healthcare and its Midstate Medical Center affiliate in Meriden for more information about a data breach that may have compromised medical records of 93,500 patients. The hospital notified the Attorney…
Who should be notifying consumers about the Epsilon breach?
Senator Richard Blumenthal, a staunch consumer privacy advocate, has said that Epsilon should be notifying every consumer whose data were involved in the recent humongous breach. You can read his entire letter to Attorney General Eric Holder requesting an investigation on his web site, but here’s part of what he wrote: I believe that immediate…