Gavin Lesnick reports: UAMS is notifying about 1,500 patients that a former resident doctor who was fired in 2010 improperly kept medical records containing some personal information. The hospital said in a statement that the doctor violated policy when she kept documents containing information including patient names, partial addresses, medical record numbers, dates of birth,…
Category: Health Data
Follow-up: Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust data breach fine reduced for timely payment
In June, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust were hit with a £325,000 monetary penalty for a data protection breach. Rebecca Todd reports that they ultimately paid £260,000, a 20% “savings” for prompt payment that is offered to those being fined.
CHRISTUS St. John reports patient information breach
Through the law firm of Baker & Hostetler, CHRISTUS St. John Hospital notified the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office of a breach involving unencrypted patient information on a lost memory stick. The Houston-based hospital learned of the September 25th incident on September 27th, but a search was unsuccessful in recovering the drive, which contained the…
Ca: Snooping in health files to be made illegal
The Winnipeg Free Press reports: The Selinger government will make it tougher for health-care workers to snoop in patient files. The NDP introduced a bill Wednesday making it an offence for an employee to use or access personal health information without authorization or to falsify that information. […] The legislation already includes penalties for disclosing…
RI: Laptop stolen from Landmark Medical Center (updated)
Tony Gugliotta reports: A laptop computer with a[n Excel] spreadsheet containing certain patient information was stolen from Landmark Medical Center in Woonsocket. The hospital sent out a letter to affected patients that said the computer was set up in a conference room within the hospital and was for used [sic] by authorized employees only. According…
Large-Scale Health Data Breaches Declined in 2012 – So Far, Anyway
Joseph Conn reports: There is some good news on the healthcare data-breach front. According to data compiled on the larger breaches of patient-identifiable medical records reported to HHS’ Office for Civil Rights, 2012 is on track to record fewer breaches than any full year since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 required such…