Quest Diagnostics has notified the Maryland Attorney General’s office that an employee’s password-protected laptop containing names, addresses, and Social Security numbers was stolen on May 1. The notification letter did not indicate the total number of individuals with data on the laptop, whether the data belonged to patients or employees, or whether the laptop was…
Author: Dissent
Ex-patient sues storage firm over stolen U. records
Stephen Hunt of the Salt Lake Tribune reports: Just days after the University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics announced the theft of 2.2 million patients’ billing records containing a variety of personal information, the first lawsuit over the debacle has been filed. In a proposed class-action lawsuit filed Wednesday in 3rd District Court, former patient…
EPIC Urges Congress to Safeguard Medical Privacy
From EPIC.org: In response to a request from Congressman Edward Markey, EPIC recommended strong medical privacy safeguards in a bill that would establish a national framework for electronic health records. EPIC commended Congress for raising the vital issues implicated by digital health records, and recommended effective and meaningful privacy safeguards for consumers’ personal medical information….
Another 2007 breach?
In reading a report by Sandra Yi on the U. of Utah breach, it appears that there was another breach last year that had not been reported in the chronologies on this site. Yi reports: The theft could have been intentional, but the sheriff’s office says it also could have been that whoever broke into…
U of U Hospital billing records stolen; data from 2.2m patients at risk (update 1)
Billing records have been stolen from a business that does work for the University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics. The records, reportedly containing data from 2.2 million patients, were stolen from an outside vendor of University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics, according to a news release from the university. Source – Salt Lake Tribune Update…
Perspectives: Interoperability and Privacy: Are They Mutually Exclusive?
Thomas H. Lee M.D. has an opinion piece on iHealthBeat that is worth reading. Here’s part of it: The Dissonance of Functional Interoperability At first glance, functional interoperability appears to be relatively achievable, certainly when compared with the difficult challenges associated with technical interoperability. It’s simply a matter of developing sharing rules, privacy regulations and…