The Associated Press reports that medical identity theft carries a steep penalty: A Massachusetts man who committed health care fraud by using someone else’s Medicare health insurance to get care at Portsmouth Regional Hospital has been sentenced to four years in prison. […] Rabbia admitted he used another person’s identification information to obtain health care…
Category: Health Data
RxAmerica and Accendo Insurance notify 175,000 Medicare beneficiaries that mailing error exposed their medication name, date of birth, and member ID
RxAmerica and Accendo Insurance Company, providers of drug benefits to eligible beneficiaries under the Medicare Part D program, issued the following statement today regarding a recent patient information issue: “RxAmerica and Accendo Insurance Company have notified Medicare Part D beneficiaries enrolled in the company’s Prescription Drug Plans that some of their personal information may have…
VA: Suffolk doctor faces federal privacy law charges
Elizabeth Simpson reports: In a rare prosecution of a possible health privacy violation, a federal grand jury has indicted a Suffolk psychiatrist on charges he disclosed personal medical information. Dr. Richard Kaye, 62, a former medical director of the psychiatric unit at Sentara Obici Hospital in Suffolk, was indicted in U.S. District Court in Norfolk…
UK: Hospital patients' details lost or stolen 1,000 times in three years
Sophie Goodchild reports: London hospitals were responsible for nearly 1,000 cases involving the theft or loss of confidential patient details over the past three years, figures show today. They include medical notes left in a bin near a busy ward, the theft of a doctor’s laptop containing patient names and addresses and the loss of…
(follow-up) FL: Holy Cross Hospital ID theft ring members plead guilty and are sentenced
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Henry Gutierrez, Special Agent in Charge, United States Postal Inspection Service, announced yesterday’s sentencing of Jimmy Lee Theodore, 27, of North Miami, following his plea of guilty to charges of wire fraud, unauthorized use of an access device (debit card), and aggravated identity…
2 fired at University of Iowa Hospitals for peeking at records
Clark Kauffman reports: The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics has fired a medical assistant for allegedly violating patient privacy by reporting a colleague’s suspected patient-privacy violations. If you read the details in the Des Moines Register, though, the case seems a bit tricky – the employee did admit to looking over a colleague’s shoulder,…