Following up on an investigation first disclosed in February, CBC News reports: The Beaufort Delta Health Authority confirmed today that there was a breach of patients’ health records by employees at the Inuvik Hospital. The hospital said it has sent letters to 67 patients informing them their health records had been compromised. Read more on…
Category: Health Data
Chelsea and Westminster NHS trust fined £180,000 for HIV newsletter data breach
There’s a follow-up to the breach involving the 56 Dean Street clinic in London run by the the Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust. The breach involved a staff member accidentally exposing all recipients of an HIV newsletter in the To: field. Today, the Information Commissioner’s Office announced a monetary penalty stemming from the incident: A London NHS…
Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS) notifies patients of PHI exposure
This April 22nd notice seems to have flown under the media radar: The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS) today notified the public of a privacy incident involving protected health information (PHI). The issue involves a February 2016 postcard sent to consumers of mental health services inviting participation in a satisfaction survey….
Notice of Data Breach from Bay Area Children’s Association
To the Patients and Guarantors of Bay Area Children’s Association: On April 1, 2016, we received notice from our electronic medical record provider that some of our patient records were acquired by unauthorized persons. Specifically, they determined that cyber intruders may have installed malware on their system in January 2015 and, through credential theft, accessed…
Ca: Hospital workers convicted for snooping into Rob Ford’s personal health files
May Warren reports: Two health workers who snooped into late mayor Rob Ford’s electronic health records have become the first in Ontario to be convicted under the province’s health privacy law, the Star has learned. Mohammad Rahman, of Toronto, and Debbie Davison, of Pickering, both pleaded guilty under the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA)…
Patient privacy: Can past lessons prevent future failures?
Niam Yaraghi writes: I talked with key personnel at twenty-two different hospitals, insurers, and business associates that had experienced a breach incident over the last two years. A new report synthesizes the lessons learned from those incidents and highlights the unique vulnerabilities of the health care system to privacy breaches. Read more on Brookings Institute.