Author: Dissent

Tougher controls to protect patients’ personal and medical data should be introduced at the city’s hospitals following a series of security blunders, the territory’s privacy watchdog said Tuesday. Roderick Woo, the privacy commissioner, made 37 recommendations to the Hospital Authority after inspecting the data security system at one of its hospitals. Full story – Monsters…

George Lauer reports: It’s not going to change things overnight, but the merger of two of the biggest players in the electronic prescription market might accelerate the adoption of delivering health care digitally beyond the prescribing of drugs. Prescriptions will obviously be the first and most affected, but industry experts predict other portions of the…

Jill Coley reports: Medical records belonging to state Medicaid patients have gone electronic. In July, the South Carolina Health Information Exchange made 800,000 medical histories of disabled and poor residents available to physicians, clinics and hospitals. Privacy advocates urge caution. “Medical privacy for many people is one of the most important forms of privacy,” said…

In his fourth run-in with Maricopa County deputies within a year, rapper DMX faces charges of theft of services and identity theft for trying to avoid paying $7,500 in medical bills from Scottsdale’s Mayo Clinic in April, officials said. […] In April, the 37-year-old rapper went for treatment at Scottsdale’s Mayo Clinic. He stayed nine…

Jesse Tinsley reports: The Cleveland Clinic is investigating the theft of a laptop computer that could contain patient medical records. “We regret the potential breach of confidentiality due to the theft of a computer,” Clinic officials said in a written statement issued Friday. “At this time we cannot confirm that any information was compromised.” Clinic…

Elisa Glushefski reports: A former Prince William Hospital anesthesiologist was arrested on four criminal charges Thursday—two weeks after authorities received a call of suspicious findings in a doctor’s bunkroom, police said Friday. Dr. Carlos Ocampo, 38, of 5438 Long Boat Court in Fairfax, turned himself in to police Thursday and was charged with prescription fraud,…