If you were an entity that wound up as part of a $3.5 million settlement with HHS in 2015, you probably wouldn’t want to be reporting yet another breach to HHS now, particularly if your area was still trying to recover from a major hurricane and crisis. Yet that’s the situation Triple-S Advantage, an independent licensee…
Category: U.S.
Hygienist Steals Patients, Leaves Dentist with Huge Legal Bills
So we’ve all read breach reports about employees or former employees stealing patient data to go start a new competitive practice or to help their new employer. And a blog post on Dental Practice Marketing and Management by Jim Du Molin about a dental hygienist stealing patient data for her new place of work read…
Data breach at MassTaxConnect exposed businesses’ info
Joshua Miller reports: A data mix-up on a state tax portal inadvertently made private data from about 16,500 business taxpayers viewable to other companies, potentially even competitors. The breach lasted from Aug. 7, 2017, through Jan. 23, 2018, and allowed some companies to view other business’s names, federal employer identification numbers, tax payments, and other…
Consequences for HIPAA violations don’t stop when a business closes
There’s a new settlement announcement from HHS OCR that makes clear that even if an entity closes its doors, any HIPAA enforcement action continues: A receiver appointed to liquidate the assets of Filefax, Inc. has agreed to pay $100,000 out of the receivership estate to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office…
This time, students’ records left behind
Barb Ickes writes: The 6-year-old’s psychological assessment is marked “confidential,” yet, there it is in my inbox. I didn’t read it. Finding it in my email felt wrong enough. But I understand what Jim Ziebell was doing. He was offering an example of the records that were left behind at a former school in Lost…
KY: Livingston County Schools teachers, staff fear identity theft
Blake Stevens and Randall Barnes report: Many teachers, bus drivers, custodians, and other school staff in Livingston County fear their identities may have been stolen. Superintendent Victor Zimmerman apologized Monday night for unknowingly posting payroll information with social security numbers on the Livingston County school district’s website. The breach was part of an attachment for…