The Coalition for Patient Privacy urges the Department of Health and Human Services to revise and repeal the interim final rule (IFR) establishing requirements for notification of breaches of unsecured protected health information. “We are dismayed and disappointed with the IFR, particularly with the inclusion of a ‘harm standard’. HHS went far beyond the intent…
Category: Health Data
Identity theft victim dropped by health insurance company
A consequence of medical identity may be that you lose your health insurance. Gahanna News in Ohio reports: A Gahanna resident who lives in the 1200 block of North Hamilton Road said someone has been using her identity to obtain credit cards since April 20. The victim said she first suspected fraud when someone received…
Email leaks 350 Baptist East employee Social Security numbers
Here’s another case in which people whose data were revealed found out first from the media instead of from the entity responsible for protecting their data. WHAS11 reports: For the second time in less than a week hundreds of people in Kentuckiana are worrying about identity theft after their employer accidentally released their social security…
NHS staff to improve data handling after details of cancer patients go missing
Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Trust has pledged to improve data security after it informed the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) of a data breach involving the loss or theft of three unencrypted USB sticks containing sensitive patient information. Each of the devices contained the full treatment and full diagnosis history relating to a number…
CalOptima Reports Potential Loss of Patient Claims Information (updated)
From CalOptima’s web site: ORANGE, Calif. (October 23, 2009) – CalOptima has identified the potential loss of past medical claims information for approximately 68,000 of its members that was stored on electronic media devices. CalOptima’s claims scanning vendor sent the electronic media devices to CalOptima through the U.S. Postal service by certified mail. On Tuesday,…
Former Nursing Home Licensed Practical Nurse Pleads Guilty to Stealing Patients’ IDs
Erica Shanta Fowler, 27, of Virginia Beach, pled guilty Tuesday to aggravated identity theft for stealing identity information belonging to nursing home patients. Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, made the announcement after Fowler’s plea was accepted by United States District Judge Robert G. Doumar. She faces a mandatory…