A federal grand jury has indicted the following five Maryland defendants on fraud and aggravated identity theft charges in connection with a scheme to use stolen hospital patient identity information to open fraudulent credit accounts and make purchases on “instant credit” at retail stores in Maryland: Michael Allen, age 34, of Baltimore, Jasmine Amber Smith,…
Category: Health Data
Update on my FOI request to HHS/OCR for breach reports
I received a phone call from OCR this morning to discuss my FOI request for the breach reports HHS is receiving under HITECH regulations. I had requested electronic copies of the reporting forms breached entities submitted via HHS’s web site. The conversation was a bit of an eye-opener for me. First, it turns out…
Did the punishment fit the "crime?" (the Lucile Salter Packard Hospital breach fines)
Jason C. Gavejian writes about a hospital breach that is causing waves because of the exorbitant fine the state imposed. Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital at StanfordUniversity was fined $250,000 earlier this year by the California Department of Public Health (“CDPH”) for an alleged delay in reporting a breach under California’s health information privacy law. What makes…
TX: $60 for Appliances, Furniture, Social Security Numbers, and Medical Records
Omar Villafranca reports that a winning $60 storage unit auction bid yielded personal and medical information on hundreds of people: But the storage unit also had boxes of sensitive information, including copies of drivers licenses and Social Security cards, credit union reports and financial reports. The letters were addressed to a closed-down nursing facility. The…
$60 for Appliances, Furniture, Social Security Numbers, and Medical Records
Omar Villafranca reports that a winning $60 storage unit auction bid yielded personal and medical information on hundreds of people: But the storage unit also had boxes of sensitive information, including copies of drivers licenses and Social Security cards, credit union reports and financial reports. The letters were addressed to a closed-down nursing facility. The…
Ca: Vets ombudsman asks for privacy probe after personal information accessed
Murray Brewster reports: Canada’s Veteran’s ombudsman says he’s asking the country’s privacy watchdog to investigate why his Veterans Affairs file was access hundreds of times. Pat Stogran says he believes private information in those records may have been inappropriately used, much like what happened to another outspoken critic of the department. Sean Bruyea, who prior…