Chris Mazzolini reports: The Social Security numbers of 163 New Hanover County property owners were mistakenly published on the county website for anyone to see. The lists containing the numbers were removed from the site Tuesday so county officials could scrub them from the data, said Chairman Jason Thompson, who learned that the numbers were…
Author: Dissent
World Privacy Forum files two sets of regulatory comments on HIPAA
The World Privacy Forum filed two sets of detailed regulatory comments on recently proposed changes to HIPAA. The first comments focused on proposed changes to HIPAA in the area of marketing patient information. The proposed changes would be harmful to patient privacy, and are contrary to the law. WPF was joined in the marketing comments by…
New Ponemon study: patient data inadequately protected, many hospitals do not notify patients of breaches
The Ponemon Institute has released a new study sponsored by ID Experts, “Benchmark Study on Patient Privacy and Data Security.” The study examined hospitals’ patient privacy practices, breaches involving patient information, and compliance policies and activities. Sixty-five healthcare organizations participated in the study. The healthcare organizations participating in the study were described as integrated delivery…
Ca: Colwood employment centre loses data on 212 clients
RCMP are investigating a possible privacy breach at a Colwood employment centre, after the personal information of more than 200 clients went missing. Work Link, a non-profit organization that helps people find jobs, misplaced the personal files of 212 people, said West Shore RCMP spokesman Cpl. Scott Hilderley. The files contain “pretty sensitive information,” including…
Nova Scotia: Health minister expected to table personal information bill today
The provincial health minister is expected to table her Personal Health Information Act today. Maureen MacDonald first introduced the legislation on the use, disclosure and retention of health information in November 2009. Privacy issues around health information recently have been raised as the province creates electronic health information databases. As well, health foundations have asked…
More federal health database details coming following privacy alarm
Jaikumar Vijayan reports: In response to considerable privacy concerns, the federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) could soon release more details on its plans to build a controversial new database containing information on the healthcare claims of millions of Americans. The agency will also likely delay its planned November 15 launch of the new database…