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…
Category: Health Data
But What About the Potential HIPAA Violation?
Sheel Pandya writes on CDT’s Policy Beta blog: Last month, we blogged about how Humana (and maybe some other health plans) sent warnings through letters to its Medicare beneficiaries that they could lose their health care benefits and services due to health care reform legislation pending in Congress. In response, the Centers for Medicare and…
CA: Enloe ambulance patients’ info stolen from storage bin
Greg Welter reports: Paperwork containing patient information is missing from a shredding bin at an Enloe Medical Center facility, apparently taken before it could be destroyed. Laura Hennum, public relations director for the medical center, said the missing paperwork documented ambulance runs made by Enloe approximately between Oct. 8 and 12. The theft was discovered…
Local NHS Trust pledges to improve data security
Antony Sumara, the Chief Executive of Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, has agreed to take action to comply with the Data Protection Act following a significant security breach. The breach occurred after a member of the Trust’s human resources team transferred personal information to a home computer. The information, known as a ‘Statement of Case’,…
New Study Reveals Push to Electronic Medical Records Puts Patient Privacy at Risk
From the press release: LogLogic, the leader in log and security management solutions, and the Ponemon Institute, a privacy and information management research firm, today announced results of a national survey of healthcare IT security professionals that shows patients may be surrendering their privacy as the $2.5 trillion medical industry – prompted by federal stimulus…
UK: Private medical records for sale
Jo Macfarlane reports: The confidential medical records of patients treated at one of Britain’s top private hospitals have been illegally sold to undercover investigators. Hundreds of files containing intimate details of patients’ conditions, home addresses and dates of birth are being offered for as little as £4 each. The files were sold by two men…