Massachusetts General Hospital and its physicians organization have agreed to pay the federal government $1,000,000 to settle claims related to a worker leaving personal health documents on the subway. The hospital also agreed to develop a comprehensive new privacy policy to prevent patient information from being compromised in the future, and to provide training to…
Category: Health Data
Inappropriate access to patient records in the VA system: 2010 statistics
Earlier this month, I covered a VA privacy breach incident that had been reported in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. At the time, I noted that it was not clear to me whether the incident had been included in the VA’s monthly report to Congress as I hadn’t seen anything like that case mentioned. I wrote to…
UK: Met called after hackers send obscene emails from university database
Josh Halliday reports: The Metropolitan police has been called in after computer hackers gained access to a London university medical database, sending a string of expletive-laden emails to hundreds of its users. Unidentified hackers sent emails last week pretending that members of the university’s executive board were involved in a “recent child pornography sting” and…
Emory Healthcare posts statement about breach on its web site
A statement was posted today on Emory’s web site about a breach first reported yesterday: Emory Healthcare recently received notification from external law enforcement agents that 77 of our orthopaedics patients may have been victims of identity theft in May 2008 or January 2009. Please be assured that this was not a breach into the…
Emory Healthcare patient records used in tax refund fraud scheme (updated)
Emory Healthcare alerted thousands of patients about a fraud scheme Monday. Hospital officials said someone stole personal patient information and used that information illegally. Emory officials said 77 people had their social security numbers stolen and used in a tax return scam. Officials said 2,400 other patients were given 12 month identity protection in case…
Privacy and Security in Health Care: A fresh look
A new issue brief by Deloitte reviews previous research and generates figures based on breaches reported to HHS. This Issue Brief from the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions (DCHS): Provides an update about current and emergent privacy and security challenges in health care; Examines notable hot spots where current policies, rules, and regulations are a…