Bryce Hoye reports: A former government employee wasn’t up to anything nefarious when she peeked at the private health records and home addresses of Manitoba patients — she just wanted to know where to send her love and birthday wishes. A spokesperson with Manitoba Health said an internal investigation is underway after 197 patient health records were “inappropriately accessed”…
Category: Health Data
TX: Austin Pulmonary Consultants notifies patients after new cleaners throw out records meant for shredding
It’s been a while since I’ve seen any reports of cleaning contractors accidentally disposing of patient records intended for shredding, but a recent report by Austin Pulmonary Consultants may be a useful reminder that all new cleaning vendors or contractors need to ensure their staff knows what is for disposal and what is for shredding. In…
AU: Human Services admits privacy breach.
Paris Cowan reports: The Department of Human Services has admitted it uploaded sensitive Medicare claims records to the wrong recipient’s electronic health records 86 times in the 12 months to 30 June 2016. DHS, which is responsible for the operation of the Medicare medical rebate scheme, is obliged under law to report any data breaches…
TX: Ransomware attack targets Seguin Dermatology (updated)
Lynn Brezosky reports: A Seguin dermatologist on Friday said his office computer system was attacked with ransomware that accessed confidential patient data, including names, social security numbers and billing codes for medical services. “There was a high likelihood that protected health information (PHI) was accessed,” Dr. Robert Magnon, owner of Seguin Dermatology, said in a…
Indiana Health Coverage Program members notified of breach
HP Enterprise Services LLC (HPE), a Medicaid fiscal agent for the Indiana Health Coverage Program, recently notified HHS of the theft of 1,235 members’ information. The theft was discovered on September 16 and reported to HHS by HPE on November 7. According to a statement provided to media, a laptop bag stolen from an HPE employee’s car…
TN: Vanderbilt U. Psychological & Counseling Center exposed students’ names in email survey
Sarah Friedman reports: This afternoon, the Psychological & Counseling Center sent an email out to 468 of its clients without blocking the recipients from seeing each other’s names. The content of the email was a satisfaction survey regarding the student’s recent visit to the center. Several students responded to all recipients of the email with…