Vermont’s law restricting the sale of prescription drug information that identifies prescribers and patients for commercial marketing purposes does not restrict free speech and serves substantial governmental interests, according to a brief to be filed today by an American University Washington College of Law professor on behalf of AARP and organizations representing physicians, state legislatures,…
Author: Dissent
UK: Ambulance service loses details of nearly million people
Simon Johnson of Telegraph reports: A computer disk containing details of nearly a million people who dialled 999 has been lost, an ambulance service has admitted. The information was supposed to be couriered by TNT from Scotland to Manchester two weeks ago, but never arrived at its destination and a search has failed to find…
Microsoft, AT&T, Covisint Partner On Health Data Exchange
Marianne Kolbasuk McGee of InformationWeek reports: Through a new partnership between Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), AT&T (NYSE: T), and Compuware (NSDQ: CPWR) subsidiary Covisint, consumers who use Microsoft HealthVault tools to input and manage their personal health data via the Web can now share this information nationwide with physicians connected to the AT&T Healthcare Community Online…
UCLA Health System Facilities Are Cited by State for Patient Privacy Breaches; Former Employee Is Charged Under HIPAA
 : There’s really nothing new in the report that we haven’t reported here before, but REPORT ON PATIENT PRIVACY has a detailed article on the UCLA privacy breaches: Three UCLA Health System facilities were cited for deficiencies by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) for staff members’ snooping in high-profile patient records. And one…
Agency Sees Theft Risk for ID Card in Medicare
Robert Pear of the NY Times reports: Social Security officials, concerned about the risk of identity theft, are calling for immediate action to remove Social Security numbers from the Medicare cards used by millions of Americans. But Medicare officials have resisted the proposal, saying it would be costly and impractical. […] Read the full story…
Boston Medical Center settles charge of deceptive marketing
Boston Medical Center HealthNet and Boston Medical Center Corporation have agreed to pay the state $562,000 to settle charges that BMC gave private patient information to its HealthNet insurance plan for marketing purposes that the state described as deceptive. According to WBUR, BMC sent a letter to 2,600 patients who were insured by competing plans. …