Press Association reports: The Information Commissioner’s Office is investigating problems with a national service for transporting patient records after GPs complained some were going missing. NHS England has commissioned private firm Capita to run the Primary Care Support England service, which handles GP payments, medical supplies, moving records and patient registrations. It has contracted CitySprint,…
Category: Health Data
CA: Email gaffe at clinic exposes patients’ names and email addresses
Oops. It appears that somehow, Berkeley Endocrine Clinic had spam sent to a number of its patients. Trying to address that, they sent out an email to all patients. Unfortunately, as Dr. Omar Murad explains, the patients’ names and email addresses showed in the TO: field: On April 22, 2016, my office was subject to a spam…
NY: Leader behind hospital ID theft ring takes plea deal
Rebecca Rosenberg reports an update to a case first noted in June, 2015: The leader of an identity theft ring that used stolen patient records purchased from a crooked hospital employee to pull off shopping sprees at major Manhattan department stores took a plea deal Monday. Fernando Salazar, 28, admitted to buying the records of 250 Montefiore…
Kansas Heart Hospital hit by ransomware
KWCH reports that Kansas Heart Hospital became a victim of a ransomware attack Wednesday night. The hospital’s president, Dr. Greg Duick, says the hackers never got access to patient information, but the attack did cause problems. And here’s an example of why paying ransom may not be a good idea. The hospital agreed to pay the small ransom…
So does Spokeo v. Robins help plaintiffs or defendants?
I’ve read some of the commentaries on the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Spokeo v. Robins, as both sides claimed victory. Today, I read commentary by Venkat Balasubramani and Eric Goldman. Both seemed to suggest that the decision may be of greater benefit to defendants in data breach lawsuits than to plaintiffs. Here’s a snippet from Venkat’s…
Comanche County Memorial Hospital notifies 2,199 patients after contractor’s email gaffe
On April 25, Comanche County Hospital Authority notified HHS that 2,199 patients were affected by an email incident. From their press release: Comanche County Memorial Hospital issues public notice of HIPAA Breach Lawton, OK (April 27, 2016) – Comanche County Memorial Hospital (CCMH) is committed to protecting the privacy of its patients and maintaining the highest…