Seriously. How many times will see news reports of how medical practices closed their doors and just dumped patient records? Here’s another case this week, reported by WSFA in Alabama, who made great efforts to track down someone – anyone – who might be able to help identify the culprit (and yes, I use the…
Category: Health Data
Physicians Health Plan of Northern Indiana notifies Indigo members whose billing statements were erroneously sent to others
Another problem with mailing bills that results in a HIPAA breach. Physicians Health Plan of Northern Indiana, Inc. (PHPNI) posted an FAQ on December 18 about an incident affecting Indigo members. Their report to HHS indicates that 1,708 patients were affected. What happened? An error occurred in the assembly of a premium billing statement mailing on December 8,…
Allina Health Isles Clinic notifies more than 6,000 patients of improper disposal of their records
First, the notice from Allina Health in Minnesota: This notice concerns a privacy situation that occurred at the Allina Health Isles Clinic, located at 2800 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55408. On October 27, 2015, Allina Health discovered that in limited circumstances, containers which may have had documents with patient information were being emptied into a…
Dumont hospital employees shocked Dr. Fernando Rojas returning to work
CBC News reports an update to a breach noted previously on this site. Many staff members at the Georges Dumont Hospital in Moncton do not welcome Dr. Fernando Rojas’ return to work. Rojas has not been working at the Georges Dumont since March 2014. The radiation oncologist looked at 141 female patient medical records without authorization…
Can a Business Associate be Liable for a HIPAA Breach When Its Client Isn’t a Covered Entity?
Yesterday morning, some of were following up on a ProPublica report about a New Jersey clinic who, when suing patients for overdue accounts, included their diagnostic codes in materials sent to their collection agency. Those records – containing the patients’ names, diagnostic codes, and treatment codes – became part of public court records. There were some…
NY dermatologist notifies patients after email error exposes PHI
Add Mary Ruth Buchness, M.D. to the list of medical practices that have reported a breach in 2015. On December 12, she submitted a copy of her notification letter to patients to the Vermont Attorney General’s Office. A copy of the notice is also prominently linked from her web site. Dr. Buchness writes, in part:…