An incident previously reported on this blog involving paper records left behind and exposed at the now-closed Riverside Mercy Hospital has been reported to HHS. As an example of how confusing HHS’s breach log tool can be without additional details, here is the log entry: Riverside Mercy Hospital and Ohio/Mercy Diagnostics,OH,,1000,11/15/2010,Improper Disposal,Paper Records,1/4/2011 Based on…
Category: Health Data
Periodontist’s server hacked, patients notified
A periodontist from Germantown, Maryland has notified HHS of a security breach that affected 1,000 patients. A web site about the breach, created by ID Experts, describes the incident: On October 14, 2010, when the computer system of the dental Practice of Gary C. Spinks, DMD, PC, shut down, the Practice learned that a hacker had…
PinnacleHealth notifies patients that a medical transcription service breach exposing patient records went undetected for two years
Another breach involving a transcription service. This time, it’s PinnacleHealth System in Pennsylvania, who recently reported an incident to HHS involving Gair Medical Transcription Services. On December 17, PinnacleHealth issued a press release that indicates that the breach may have occurred back in 2008, but was only detected when someone searching for something online stumbled across…
OhioHealth patient data exposed
Suzanne Hoholik reports: OhioHealth officials announced yesterday that they will provide one year of credit protection to anyone who was a patient at Grant Medical Center from Jan. 1, 2008, through Nov. 5, 2010. Mark Hopkins, a spokesman for OhioHealth, which owns Grant, said an employee stole computers from an inventory storage facility that contained…
Ca: Privacy commissioner at 'impasse' with SGI
Saskatchewan’s information and privacy commissioner says Saskatchewan Government Insurance is collecting vast amounts of personal health information and needs to do a better job of protecting people’s privacy. That SGI is “over-collecting” is one of Gary Dickson’s conclusions after dealing with three privacy complaints about the Crown corporation. The complaints concerned people who made claims…
UK: Scandal of computer snooping by public servants includes medical information
Jack Blanchard reports the results of a freedom of information request on police in Yorkshire, UK. Revelations concerning non-medical incidents are posted to PogoWasRight, but here are the medically related incidents: The cases include… a doctor in Doncaster caught looking at a colleague’s medical records. At one hospital, in Rotherham, a cleaner was caught only…