Jane M. Von Bergen reports: Keystone Mercy Health Plan and AmeriHealth Mercy Health Plan said Tuesday that a portable computer drive containing the names, addresses, and health information of 280,000 Medicaid members in Pennsylvania has been lost. The affiliated companies together insure 400,000 people on medical assistance in Pennsylvania. The companies said the portable computer…
Category: Health Data
How not to get a job: Computer consultant accused of hacking into Houston Healthcare database
Becky Purser reports: A 21-year-old computer consultant is accused of hacking into Houston Healthcare’s database. Christopher Stewart Wheeler of Warner Robins was charged with one count of theft by taking, four counts of computer theft and five counts of computer invasion of privacy, according to the Houston County District Attorney’s Office website. District Attorney Rabb…
HHS site update reveals three previously unreported breaches
The most recent update of HHS’s breach tool website reveals three breaches we didn’t know about and one breach that had previously been reported in the media: The Utah Department of Health recently reported the Utah Department of Workforce Services incident involving access to and disclosure of 1298 immigrants’ information. The incident was covered on…
UK: North West London Hospitals NHS Trust violated Data Protection Act – ICO
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has found that a doctor at North West London Hospitals NHS Trust breached the Data Protection Act by leaving medical information about 56 patients on the tube. The incident, which was reported to the ICO by the Trust in May 2010, occurred when a doctor printed out personal and diagnostic…
IE: HSE ‘rocked’ by security breach on 1,500 patient records
Roisin Burke reports: Hundreds of patient records were seriously compromised by a major security breach at the HSE, the Sunday Independent has learned. The 1,500 sensitive health records were removed from a Dublin office and emailed to an outside organisation. A private IT contractor, who was being overseen by a HSE staff member, downloaded the…
UC Davis Medical Center notified 900 patients of data theft
Bobby Caina Calvan of the Sacramento Bee reports: UC Davis Medical Center officials said financial documents and other data containing information about 900 patients were stolen in an August burglary of a West Sacramento courier service. A med center spokesman, Charles Casey, said the affected patients were notified of the incident, and “the risk of identity…