Author: Dissent

  From the GAO report released yesterday: Summary Although advances in information technology (IT) can improve the quality and other aspects of health care, the electronic storage and exchange of personal health information introduces risks to the privacy of that information. In January 2007, GAO reported on the status of efforts by the Department of…

All practices in England and Wales will be required to use the NHS number as the national unique patient identifier by this time next year, following a new Safer Practice Notice (SPN) issued today (18 September 2008). The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA), together with NHS Connecting for Health (in England) and Informing Healthcare (in…

Duane Bourne reports: Matthew Wiseman, a registered nurse who pilfered a dead patient’s credit card, was ordered to serve a month in jail on Wednesday. The 24-year-old man, who pleaded guilty to credit card theft and credit card fraud, used the card of Michael Puopolo in March to buy a laptop computer hours after the…

On July 10th, 2008 thieves broke into the office of Summer Avenue Chiropractic Clinic and stole the computers used to conduct business. According to the letter sent to the affected patients, the computers contained encrypted personal information. Source and documentation – The Breach Blog

A LAPTOP containing sensitive information about vulnerable Oldham adults with mental health problems has been stolen. Investigations are taking place to determine exactly what type of information was held on the computer, the number of records and their level of sensitivity. The computer was apparently taken from an Oldham Council manager’s car which was parked…

  Ted Eytan, M.D., writes: I am posting this invitation from the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology in its entirety, because I am Co-Chair of the Personal Health Records Workgroup alongside Lory Wood from the Good Health Network. I’ve been very impressed with the experience and talent that the group has brought to this…