John Moore reports: The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology intends to incorporate elements of the federal government’s newly announced privacy and security framework as the organization continues work on personal health record certification. The Health and Human Services Department earlier this week issued the framework along with a privacy and security toolkit. The latter…
Author: Dissent
UK: Doctors fight plans to hand medical records to researchers and private companies
Laura Donnelly reports: The association said the Government was “dancing with the devil” with its proposals to give researchers, which could include commercial organisations, access to a giant computer database of patient records. The Government’s own health information watchdog has also written to ministers to express his concern about the plans, which could see…
MN: Identity theft unravels with web of lies
Shawn Hogendorf reports: Police have unraveled a web of lies worthy of being written into a complicated movie plot after a 42-year-old woman from Savage allegedly stole the identities of at least eight people across the country and then used the information to obtain credit cards, make numerous purchases and acquire utility services. Nicole Frances…
UK: Raider steals medical files
Emily Allen reports: The confidential medical records of 8,000 patients have been stolen in a break-in at a Didcot health centre. Details of the burglary, where the medical notes of every person registered at Oak Tree Health Centre, in Ladygrove, were stolen on an encrypted tape, only emerged this week when patients were sent a…
Secretary Leavitt Announces New Principles, Tools to Protect Privacy, Encourage More Effective Use of Patient Information to Improve Care
An HHS press release from Dec. 15: The growing computerization, exchange and analysis of patient data offer the potential to improve the quality of care and reduce costs and medical errors, but those benefits won’t be fully realized until privacy concerns are effectively addressed, HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said today. In a keynote address…
Your Privacy Is Protected Only if You Are Really Sick
Saul Hansell has an interesting blog in the NY Times today: The advertising trade group that proposed that people with cancer deserve more privacy protections than those with heart disease has adopted a new version of its guidelines for how ad networks use data about Internet users. It is no longer trying to distinguish between…