Kathy Roberton reports: A hearing is scheduled in Sacramento on Sept. 27 on a class action against Sutter Health over last year’s theft of a personal computer that held data on 4.24 million patients. Twelve lawsuits filed over the incident have been coordinated in Sacramento County Superior Court. Read more on Sacramento Business Journal. The Sutter Health…
Category: Health Data
Blue Cross Blue Shield discloses employee data breach
Julie M. Donnelly reports: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts has disclosed that a contracted vendor compromised an employee’s data at the state’s largest health insurer. The health plan said its cyber-security systems were not breached, no medical information was involved,and no health plan members’ personal information was compromised. The health plan issued a statement…
Medical Data Breach Highlights Need For Encryption
Michelle McNickle reports: The recent data breach at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI) and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Associates once again screams the message: Encryption, encryption, encryption!The provider has agreed to pay a $1.5 million fine to theDepartment of Health and Human Services (HHS), after allegations were made that Mass. Eye and Ear failed to…
Cabinet for Health and Family Services Notifies Clients of Potential HIPAA Breach
Press release from the Kentucky (state) Cabinet for Health and Family Services: The Cabinet for Health and Family Services is informing approximately 2,500 clients by letter of a possible employee e-mail account breach that may have resulted in the unintentional release of information held by the Cabinet’s Department for Community Based Services (DCBS). In July,…
Northstar Healthcare exposes patients' e-mail addresses in e-mail blunder
By now, you’d think that e-mail errors exposing people’s name in the To: or CC: fields would be a thing of the past. Apparently, they’re not: Dave Savini reports that the Northstar Healthcare clinic in Chicago specializes in treating people with HIV or AIDS. In July, they sent an e-mail with more than 170 patients’…
Massachusetts Eye and Ear responds to $1.5 million fine
In response to yesterday’s announcement that Massachusetts Eye and Ear would pay a $1.5 million fine and enter into a corrective action plan, MEE issued the following statement: “The review of Mass. Eye and Ear by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was triggered by the hospital’s proactive self-reporting of a doctor’s…