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: U.S.
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…
Feds widen probe into lottery IT boss who rooted game for profit
Iain Thomson reports: Federal investigators have confirmed that they are widening a probe into fraud by the former IT security director of the Multi-State Lottery Association (MSLA). In July, Eddie Tipton, 52, was found guilty of fraudulently installing a rootkit in the MSLA’s random-number generating computer that allowed him to predict the digits for future winning tickets….
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:…
Malware-Driven Card Breach at Hyatt Hotels
Brian Krebs reports: Hyatt Hotels Corporation said today it recently discovered malicious software designed to steal credit card data on computers that operate the payment processing systems for Hyatt-managed locations. Hyatt’s notice to customers has very few details about the investigation, such as how long the breach lasted or how many consumers may have had their card data…