ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS reports: At hospitals, as at Tiffany’s, ruby-colored bracelets are far preferable to amethyst. New York’s 11 public hospitals are at the forefront of a national movement to standardize color coding of hospital wristbands to designate patient conditions, in which purple — the color of amethyst — means “Do Not Resuscitate.†Red, or ruby,…
Author: Dissent
Iowa chiropractor faces fraud charges
A Cedar Rapids chiropractor is facing nearly 40 counts of fraud, identity theft and money laundering. Douglas P. Dvorak was charged in an indictment filed this week in the U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. The indictment alleges that 45-year-old Dvorak submitted false Medicaid claims for chiropractic services he never provided. It also says he…
GA: Hospice Records All Over Shorter Avenue
Patient records from Heyman Hospice Care were scattered all over streets in west Rome around 10:00 this morning. City police have confirmed that records were found on the streets in the area of Howell Motor Cars near Division Street. When contacted, officials from the Hospice indicated that any comment would have to come from the…
Release by Employer of Protected Health Information Disclosed at Child Custody Hearing
An Apex, North Carolina couple filed a civil suit in Wake County Superior Court against the husband’s former employer(s), The Woodmoor Group Inc. and Accuro Healthcare Solutions, Inc., acquired by MedAssets, Inc., for damages suffered after the company disclosed protected health information. The couple is seeking an undisclosed amount of damages against MedAssets as…
Protecting Patient Privacy The New Fashioned Way
Protecting patient privacy has been recognized as the duty of health-care providers for about as long as doctors have seen patients. In 1996 that duty became a legal obligation when Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. HIPAA regulations safeguard patient’s personal health information but can also complicate the process of safeguarding public…
UK: Hospital finds "lost" discs which sparked identity theft warning
WHITTINGTON Hospital wasted £25,000 after wrongly announcing that confidential details of thousands of staff members had been “lost in the post”. A farcical fortnight at the Highgate hospital “which included a police investigation and letters being sent to 18,000 staff warning that they could become victims of identity fraud” ended with hospital bosses announcing on…