Tripp Messick reports: Someone stole a laptop from Spartanburg Regional. Mark Aycock, the executive vice president, said the laptop had a password-protected file with Social Security numbers, as well as names, addresses, dates of birth and medical billing codes. Aycock says the laptop was taken out of an employer’s car on March 28th. Hospital officials…
Category: Health Data
Loyola University Medical Center patients' information compromised after car break-in
Tom Negovan reports: He raves about the medical care he’s received at Loyola University Medical Center, but a heart transplant patient says he can’t believe the hospital allowed his personal information to be compromised. Worse still, 63-year-old Vincent Cherry says, administrators are doing nothing to help. He was notified earlier this month that a Loyola…
UK: Charities breached data rules over unencrypted computer thefts
The ICO issued the following press release: Sheffield-based charity Asperger’s Children and Carers Together (ACCT) and Nottingham-based charityWheelbase Motor Project both breached the Data Protection Act by failing to encrypt computers that contained sensitive information relating to young people, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said today. Both incidents occurred when the devices were stolen. Asperger’s Children…
NZ: Patient files stolen from staffer's car
Stacey Kirk reports: Confidential patient files have been stolen from a MidCentral District Health Board staff member’s car and the board is calling for the documents to be returned. The car was broken into on Pascal St, Palmerston North, some distance from Palmerston North Hospital, but MidCentral spokesman Dennis Geddis said it was “common procedure”…
Leader Of Prescription Fraud Scheme Sentenced For Health Care Fraud HIPAA Violations And Aggravated Identify Theft
U.S. District Judge C. Lynwood Smith Jr. today sentenced Isaac Earl Smith, 38, of Pleasant Grove to six years in prison for his part in a prescription fraud scheme. Between September 2008 and April 2009, Smith engaged in a criminal conspiracy to commit health care fraud that resulted in HIPAA violations and aggravated identity theft….
Five more breaches recently revealed on HHS's breach tool
Recent updates to HHS’s breach tool reveal a few more breaches that did not show up in the media and other sources I routinely search: The Community Action Partnership of Natrona County in Wyoming notified HHS of a breach involving unauthorized access to the information of 15,000 clients. There apparently was a notice on their…