Howard Anderson writes: In the wake of an information breach affecting nearly 1 million people, executives at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee have many lessons to share and plenty of advice to offer. On Oct. 2, 2009, someone stole 57 unencrypted hard drives from servers at a call center the insurer had recently closed. So far,…
Category: Health Data
VA IT official defends work on data protection
Alice Lipowicz reports: Roger Baker, assistant secretary for information and technology at the Veterans Affairs Department, today defended the department’s efforts to protect against data theft and unauthorized access at a House hearing where the VA was criticized for two recent breaches of veterans’ personal data in Texas. Rep. Harry Mitchell (D-Ariz.), who chairs the…
B.C.: ‘Human Error’ Behind Mistake Where Patient Information Released
Laurena Weninger reports: Personal patient information sent out by Interior Health to those to whom it did not belong is being chalked up as “human error.” “This breach was caused by a setting on a new device not being correctly set, resulting in double appointment letters being stuffed into envelopes,” said a letter sent out…
VA breaches more numerous than we knew
Miami VA Healthcare System wasn’t the only VA center that experienced a breach involving paper records containing protected health information on January 19 of this year. According to OCR’s web site, VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System also experienced a breach involving paper records: VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System State: Colorado Approx. # of…
Stolen server contains medical info on 40,000 eye patients
OCR added a few more breaches to its list. Two were covered earlier today on PHIprivacy.net, but the third one, added later in the day, affected 40,000 people: Silicon Valley Eyecare Optometry and Contact Lenses State: California Approx. # of Individuals Affected: 40,000 Date of Breach: 4/02/10 Type of Breach: Theft Location of Breached Information:…
SC: Laptop With Patients’ Information Stolen
A laptop containing information on more than 600 patients at an Oconee County physicians’ practice was stolen a week ago — and now patients are being warned about the theft. The staff of the Oconee Heart Center discovered the theft of the laptop on May 10. The practice is notifying more than 600 patients whose…