The Ponemon Institute has released a new study sponsored by ID Experts, “Benchmark Study on Patient Privacy and Data Security.” The study examined hospitals’ patient privacy practices, breaches involving patient information, and compliance policies and activities. Sixty-five healthcare organizations participated in the study. The healthcare organizations participating in the study were described as integrated delivery…
Category: Health Data
Taiwanese Gov Workers Breach HIV Privacy Law
An HIV/AIDS advocacy group has condemned Taiwanese government workers after several of them shared private information about the HIV statuses of citizens drafted into the military. After government officials alerted the parents of a man who was drafted that he was HIV-positive, his father kicked him out of the house, Chang Cheng-hsueh of Persons with…
GA: Medical Records From Ob-Gyn Found In Dumpster
Woodstock police have opened an investigation into the discovery of hundreds of confidential medical records discarded in a Dumpster outside the former office of a Cherokee County Ob-Gyn. Acting on a tip, Channel 2 Action News reporter Tom Regan went to the medical park off Highway 92 in Woodstock. In the Dumpster, Regan discovered garbage…
Connecticut Fines Health Net $375,000 For Security Breach Last Year
I’m was somewhat confused by this news reports of another Health Net settlement with Connecticut over a 2009 breach. Matthew Sturdevant reports: Health Net faces a $375,000 fine for a security breach that happened last year at the insurer’s Northeast headquarters in Shelton, the Connecticut Insurance Department said Monday. A portable, external hard drive was lost or stolen…
Private medical practices lag behind hospitals in data security
Private medical practices lag behind hospitals in performing risk analysis and implementing information security controls, a survey by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) found. According to the 2010 HIMSS Security Survey, sponsored by Intel and supported by the Medical Group Management Association, 33% of medical practices said they did not conduct a security…
UK: West Midlands ambulance staff failings revealed
More than 40 serious incidents and cases of malpractice were reported at West Midlands Ambulance Service in three years, including people falling off stretchers in ambulances and one crew failing to notice its patient had died. According to details released under the Freedom of Information Act, there have been 45 serious untoward incidents reported at…