In November 2009, the Las Vegas Sun revealed that someone at University Medical Center in Las Vegas was leaking patient information to personal injury lawyers and chiropractors. I’ve posted a number of updates to the case, and today’s Las Vegas Review-Journal reports the latest development. Doug McMurdo reports that Richard Charette pleaded guilty to having…
Category: Health Data
Ankle + Foot Center of Tampa Bay breach affecting 156,000 included Social Security Numbers as well as PHI
Now that I have additional information on a hacking incident involving the protected health information (PHI) of 156,000 patients of the Ankle + Foot Center of Tampa Bay, it is clear that this breach belongs on this site. I had previously noted it on PHIprivacy.net on January 29 after it appeared on HHS’s breach tool. At…
Ca: Apply the letter of the law to breaches of privacy
The editors of the Regina Leader-Post call for more disclosure and transparency on data breaches: Perhaps it’s going to take a prosecution – and the possibility of a $50,000 fine -for the Saskatchewan government to show it really means business when it comes to protecting personal information in this province. What is clear is that…
HIPAA Compliance Investigations And The Insider Threat
Last month I noted a privacy complaint involving Rowan Regional Medical Center in North Carolina. OCR’s investigation into the complaint has reportedly been re-opened. Rebecca Herold offers her thoughts on why OCR might have re-opened the complaint: […] I was recently contacted by someone who had a question about a recent HIPAA complaint against Rowan…
Ca: Patients' right to privacy breached
The Sun Country Health Region (SCHR) has sent letters of apology to 66 patients whose right to privacy was breached. The SCHR discovered last June that one of its employees improperly reviewed the electronic prescription records of the 66 patients between March 2009 and January 2010. An extensive investigation has been conducted to determine the…
Sensitive and confidential patient health records not adequately protected: Survey
There’s a new Ponemon study out today, “Health Data at Risk in Development: A Call for Data Masking.” I haven’t read it yet, but you can read the press release from Informatica on The Medical News for a quick overview of the survey.