Melissa Payne reports that a man in the Shoals (Alabama) found thousands of medical files from a doctor’s office in Virginia in dumpsters around town. How they wound up in Florence, Alabama is anyone’s guess at this point. “It’s concerning because there are phone numbers, birth dates, addresses, social security numbers in these files,” said…
Category: Health Data
Office intern at Jacksonville primary care center charged with ID theft
Here we go again: a cellphone being used to steal patient info. Dana Treen reports: Names and Social Security numbers of 261 people were illegally photographed at a Shands Jacksonville clinic then transmitted to another person, according to an arrest report in the case. Daremia Nikeka Crews, 24, of the 5300 block of Saginaw Avenue…
Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford notifying 57,000 patients after laptop stolen from physician's car
From their press release, issued yesterday: Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford and the Stanford University School of Medicine are notifying patients by mail that a password-protected laptop computer containing limited medical information on pediatric patients was stolen from a physician’s car away from campus on the night of January 9, 2013. This incident was…
Former patient claims confidentiality breach in Prime Healthcare lawsuit
When the CEO of Prime Healthcare and Shasta Regional Medical Center disclosed patient records in trying to defend themselves against a media report, I immediately noted that without the patient’s consent, they could not do that. Despite what was so obvious to most of us, they defended their disclosure, claiming that the patient had waived…
Ca: Info on 25,000 patients lost in Montfort Hospital security lapse
Chris Cobb reports: Montfort Hospital officials were scrambling on Friday to reassure thousands of patients that an unsecured USB data key lost by a hospital employee did not contain intimate details of their health issues. Information on the USB key, downloaded from a Montfort computer in contravention of hospital rules, contained information on more than…
At long last, HHS unveils Modifications to the HIPAA Privacy, Security, Enforcement, and Breach Notification Rules
From their press release: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) moved forward today to strengthen the privacy and security protections for health information established under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The final omnibus rule greatly enhances a patient’s privacy protections, provides individuals new rights to their health…