Sometimes sensitive health information is not in the hands of a HIPAA-covered entity or business associate. When there’s a breach, HIPAA won’t kick in. Here’s a case in point: Karen Velie reports that a homeless couple searching through trash discovered a box of California Men’s Colony (CMC) prisoner files: The files contained the inmates’ past criminal…
Author: Dissent
Flash drive with Medicaid numbers missing
Mainstream news is all over the breach involving the missing flash drive containing 280,000 Medicaid members’ PHI first reported yesterday. Jane M. Von Bergen follows up on her previous report with reactions from privacy advocates and the silence of the companies involved. Keystone Mercy Health Plan and AmeriHealth Mercy Health Plan are jointly owned by…
Singin' the HIPAA Blues in Arkansas
The Associated Press reports: The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences says a digital camera containing photos of newborn babies was apparently stolen out of a nurse’s lab coat. UAMS says the camera had photographs of some babies born at the hospital between July and October. The photos also contained labels with the baby and…
Canadian Medical Journal lashes out at Veterans Affairs over privacy leaks
The Canadian Medical Association Journal has lashed out at Veterans Affairs Canada over the way it handles medical records. The group published an editorial today demanding the federal government take immediate steps to restore confidence in the department after the privacy commissioner found the records of outspoken critic Sean Bruyea were used to smear him….
Health insurers say data on 280,000 Pennsylvania clients may be compromised
Jane M. Von Bergen reports: Keystone Mercy Health Plan and AmeriHealth Mercy Health Plan said Tuesday that a portable computer drive containing the names, addresses, and health information of 280,000 Medicaid members in Pennsylvania has been lost. The affiliated companies together insure 400,000 people on medical assistance in Pennsylvania. The companies said the portable computer…
Open slather for hackers on official databases
Brian Robins follows up on the NSW Auditor-General’s report, released yesterday: Computer hackers could gain access to personal information held in government databases as state departments routinely ignore government edicts that tighter security be imposed. The government rarely discloses when its computer security systems have been breached, although in a report yesterday, the NSW Auditor-General,…