I was running my usual searches and the like to find items that I might want to post to my blogs, when I came across a link to an item and where the first line or so of the entry in the search engine results looked interesting. So I clicked on the link, only to…
Category: Health Data
One year later…. do the HHS breach reports offer any surprises?
It’s now been a full year since the new breach reporting requirements went into effect for HIPAA-covered entities. Although I’ve regularly updated this blog with new incidents revealed on HHS’s web site, it might be useful to look at some statistics for the first year’s worth of reports. During this period, 166 breaches each…
Should bureaucratic heads roll in the Canadian veteran's privacy breach?
More fallout from a breach I’ve been covering on this blog involving bureaucrats accessing a veteran’s psychiatric records. Laura Payton reports: Bureaucrats could lose their jobs for circulating a veteran’s confidential medical files, the veterans affairs minister said Thursday. Jean-Pierre Blackburn says he’s still deciding what to do with officials who accessed the personal files…
Ca: Veteran wants public inquiry into privacy breach
A war veteran who was the victim of a privacy breach at the hands of bureaucrats with Canada’s Veterans Affairs Department is calling for an apology and a full public inquiry. Privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart on Thursday released the results of an investigation which found that the department broke the law in its handling of…
Two More Courts Close the Doors on Data Breach Plaintiffs
Venkat Balasubramani discusses two recent court decisions that turned data breach plaintiffs away. The first case is the Hannaford case, discussed previously on this blog, but I was surprised to learn that the Providence Health System breach finally was decided: Paul v. Providence Health System-Oregon, (Ore. Ct. App. Oct. 6, 2010): this case involved the…
Breach Notice: The Struggle for Medical Records Security Continues
William Pewen, who was involved in drafting the language in ARRA, has an excellent commentary on Health Affairs Blog: On July 28 the Obama Administration surprised many in the health sector by withdrawing a pending Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) final “breach notification” rulegoverning when consumers must be informed of illicit access or use of…