The Associated Press reports: If there’s one person whose medical records you wouldn’t want to lose track of, it’s the co-chairman of the congressional caucus that focuses on protecting consumers’ privacy. But that’s whose medical records went missing. Rep. Joe Barton was one of 3,000 patients whose records may have been breached when a National…
Author: Dissent
Doctor-Patient 'Web Visits' Spur Privacy Concerns
On NPR today: As more doctors go online to communicate with patients, two of the country’s biggest health insurers have started reimbursing patients for the Internet visits. But critics say the online advising could lead to errors, and patient privacy could be compromised. Listen to the interview on NPR. iHealthBeat describes the segment: Earlier this…
First Britney, Now Farrah: More Privacy Issues at UCLA Hospital
Jacob Goldstein writes in The Wall Street Journal: LA is a company town, and some employees at UCLA Medical Center seem to be having a tough time keeping their noses out of movie stars’ business. The med center fired more than a dozen employees and disciplined others, including six physicians, for unauthorized looks at Britney…
Man charged with stealing veteran's ID
KTRK News reports: A Texas City man has been indicted for allegedly stealing the identity of a Vietnam War veteran and using that identity to receive health care benefits, United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced. An investigation led to the return of a six count indictment on March 31, 2008, charging Gerry Lynn McAfee, 52,…
Sponsors seek to move on health IT bill
Nancy Ferris writes in Government Health IT: The leaders of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee joined representatives of the Business Roundtable in calling once again for passage of the Wired for Health Care Quality Act. Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), the committee’s chairman, and ranking member Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) acknowledged that the bill…
UK: NHS Confidentiality, or not…
Seen at the Fortuzero blog: The NHS Confidentiality campaign was set up to protect patient confidentiality and to provide a focus for patient-led opposition the government’s NHS Care Records System. This system is designed to be a huge national database of patient medical records and personal information (sometimes referred to as the NHS ’spine’) with…