A La Crescenta man pleaded guilty today to federal criminal charges of defrauding Medicare by using patients’ Medicare identification numbers without their knowledge, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Matthew Friedrich and U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Thomas P. O’Brien announced. Between August 2003 and April 2008, Melkon Gabriyelyan,…
Author: Dissent
Landmark 20-year study to assess impact of personal genetic testing
A consortium of US healthcare, technology and research leaders have joined forces in a first-of-its-kind research study to assess the behavioural impact of personal genetic testing on people who choose to receive such screenings to identify their potential risk for developing certain diseases. Sponsored by the US Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI), the study aims…
UK: Health staff warned over data
HEALTH workers have been threatened with police action if they break data protection laws. In a note to NHS Lothian staff, bosses said there was a “zero tolerance” approach to the issue. The reminder comes after a memory stick containing 137 patient records was lost earlier this year. Read more in Edinburgh Evening News
Few Americans confident in privacy of EHRs
Rebecca Vessely reports: Many Americans want electronic health records, and say they would access their personal health information online, but the majority are concerned about confidentiality issues, according to a survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a not-for-profit, nonpartisan organization. […] But just 12% reported they are extremely or very confident that their records…
Virginia Beach man pleads guilty in identity theft, fraud (Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center follow-up)
Lauren King reports: A Virginia Beach man pleaded guilty today to aggravated identity theft and participating in a scheme to defraud Navy Federal Credit Union, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the eastern district of Virginia. Jorge Luis Silva-Davalos, 29, is to be sentenced Jan. 22 and faces up…
Ohio top court mulls Planned Parenthood files
Ohio Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical Tuesday that hundreds of medical records from an abortion clinic are important to the case of a 14-year-old girl impregnated by her soccer coach and who had an abortion without her parents’ consent. In a case that seeks access to private medical files on behalf of a single plaintiff,…