In an update yesterday to city and county councillors on the medical records found buried in a former landfill outside Cork, the Health Service Executive (HSE) claimed there were “only 15 fully legible sets of notesâ€. Addressing the regional health forum south, Gerry O’Dwyer, network manager of the Southern Hospitals’ Group, said the majority of…
Author: Dissent
PHR vendor launches "In Case of Emergency" program for mobile phones
Richard Pizzi describes a new consumer-oriented service from AccessMyRecords.com in Healthcare IT News. Enrollees would be able to activate a setting in their account that would allow their emergency health histories to be accessed from their cell phones in case of emergency so that first responders, paramedics, etc., could obtain vital information. This is an…
Privacy protections will be added to Wired for Health Care Quality bill
Nancy Ferris reports: Provisions to strengthen privacy protections for patients will be added to the long-stalled Wired for Health Care Quality Act in the Senate under an agreement between the sponsors and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). Leahy’s concerns about the security and privacy of health records had held up Senate action on the bill, the…
Health Data Systems Need A Comprehensive Privacy and Security Framework
CDT’s Health Privacy Project today released a paper urging policymakers and the private sector to develop and implement a comprehensive privacy and security framework to govern the wide range of computer and Internet-based systems being created to share sensitive health information. The paper examines the key issues confronting the adoption of information technology in the…
Watchdog criticises EU plan to share DNA data
Mark John reports in Reuters: The European Union has rushed through rules giving police access to DNA databases across the bloc without regard for proper safeguards, a data protection watchdog said on Thursday. Tourists could find themselves suspects in a cross-border criminal investigation merely for having had a drink at a motorway service station, European…
City woman pleads guilty to HIPPA (sic) violation for disclosing patient information used to commit identity theft
As an update to an incident included in the breach chronologies archived here, Leslie Howell has pleaded guilty to violating HIPAA. From the press release: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – John C. Richter, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma, announced today that LESLIE A. HOWELL, 30, of Oklahoma City, pled guilty today…