DC Chartered Health Plan, Inc. notified HHS of a laptop theft affecting 540 people. The theft occurred May 26 and was reported last week. No notice appears on their web site, so I do not know whether the laptop was stolen from their premises or from off-premises. Nor do we yet know what kinds of…
Category: Health Data
When Facebook goes to the hospital, patients may suffer
Molly Hennessy-Fiske reports: William Wells arrived at the emergency room at St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach on April 9 mortally wounded. The 60-year-old had been stabbed more than a dozen times by a fellow nursing home resident, his throat slashed so savagely he was almost decapitated. Instead of focusing on treating him, an…
Maryland reports reveal yet more breaches
Thanks to the Maryland Attorney General’s Office, I just received copies of the 22 breach reports they received in January of this year. They’ll be sending me the rest of the reports received this year in the very near future. Looking through what they sent me, I see that we knew about the majority of…
Walgreens still under investigation by OCR
Dom Nicastro of HealthLeaders Media reports: The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) confirmed this week its investigation into the nation’s largest drugstore chain, Walgreens, based on the same television media reports that led to million-dollar settlements with CVS and Rite Aid for potential HIPAA violations. The investigation stems from a 2006 series of articles by…
Oakwood Hospital Employee Fired for Facebook Posting
Another employee fired for allegedly violating HIPAA by a posting on Facebook. Ronnie Dahl reports: … Like so many others, James was emotional following the shooting death of Taylor Police Corporal Matthew Edwards. She worked for the hospital organization that treated the police officer and the shooting suspect, Tyress Mathews. One night, while at home,…
Fort Worth medical clinic spends $15,000 notifying patients of theft
Jan Jarvis reports: In June, employees at a Fort Worth allergy clinic discovered that the office door had been kicked in and four computers containing patients’ personal information including Social Security numbers and birth dates had been stolen. This week Fort Worth Allergy and Asthma Associates spent $15,000 mailing letters notifying the clinic’s 25,000 patients…