Cross-posted PHIprivacy.net: When Michael Ramirez recently used RiteAid’s mobile app to check on a prescription, he never expected to be able to access other customers’ names, addresses, and prescription records. But he was able to, and now Ramirez, a computer scientist working for the Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command in Charleston, is going…
Category: Health Data
Long Island Medical Supplier Convicted of $10.7 Million Medicare Fraud and HIPAA Violations; Stole Over 1,000 Patient's Records
Last month, a federal jury in Central Islip, New York convicted the owner of a Long Island medical supply company of a $10.7 million Medicare fraud and wrongful disclosure of private patient information. The conviction of Helene Michel of Old Brookville, New York, was announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern…
Hospital patient posted pictures of fellow patients on Facebook
Even when staff adhere to privacy rules, your fellow patients may invade your medical privacy. Martin Shipton reports: A patient who took photographs of an elderly fellow patient in a hospital bed and posted them with insulting comments on a Facebook site has been accused of an “appalling” breach of privacy. A photograph on Facebook shows…
Former Howard University Hospital Employee Sentenced For Selling Personal Information About 40 Patients
Laurie Napper, a former medical technician at Howard University Hospital, was sentenced today to six months in a halfway house and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service on a federal charge stemming from the sale of personal information about patients, along with blank prescription forms, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. and…
Ah, less-than-sweet mysteries of life: when you can’t figure out if or how you were breached
How frustrating for everyone: St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore learned that 40 of its physicians had become victims of ID theft. Hapless victims had their names and Social Security numbers used to create wireless telephone accounts that they knew nothing about until they started receiving overdue notices from creditors. But despite its best efforts to…
HHS updates breach tool (update 3)
HHS added 10 incidents to its breach tool in its most recent update. Somewhat depressingly, five of the incidents involved the theft of unencrypted laptops. In terms of newly revealed details on known incidents, the University of Miami reported that it had notified 64, 846 patients of the insider breach involving theft and possible sale of…