Health care providers are certainly no stranger to data privacy and security standards related to protected health information (PHI). Although these providers and their respective organizations are well versed in rules, policies and requirements of HIPAA, few are aware that the PCI-DSS rules apply to their businesses and even fewer are compliant. When HIPAA compliancy…
Category: Health Data
AMA: Guidance Offered on Medical Record Breaches
The American Medical Association (AMA) adopted guidelines for any breach of patients’ electronic medical records and passed policies recognizing breast cancer in men and the dangers of hormone use in anti-aging procedures on June 15 at their annual meeting held from June 13 to 17 in Chicago. To protect patients’ privacy and security, the AMA…
HSE stolen laptop contains personal financial data
A non-encrypted laptop computer stolen from a Health Service Executive (HSE) office contains sensitive personal financial data on people who have approached community welfare officers seeking assistance. The laptop containing the data was one of 15 computers stolen from HSE offices in Roscommon town at the weekend. […] One of the two non-encrypted laptops contained…
NZ: Breach confirms TestSafe privacy fears
Jodi Yeats of New Zealand Doctor Online reports: A data breach in Auckland’s controversial regional lab tests repository has confirmed health sector fears about regional databases. A phone call from a patient in late May alerted Auckland regional DHBs to privacy breaches in Auckland’s controversial regional community laboratory results repository, TestSafe, affecting 150 patients. The…
NZ: Breach confirms TestSafe privacy fears
Jodi Yeats reports: A data breach in Auckland’s controversial regional lab tests repository has confirmed health sector fears about regional databases. A phone call from a patient in late May alerted Auckland regional DHBs to privacy breaches in Auckland’s controversial regional community laboratory results repository, TestSafe, affecting 150 patients. The patient was attending an outpatient…
Cedars-Sinai worker gets prison for stealing patient records
This is a follow-up on a story covered previously. A former Cedars-Sinai Medical Center employee was sentenced to four years, eight months in prison after pleading guilty today to stealing patient information to defraud insurance companies of $354,000. The hospital had sent letters in December to more than 1,000 patients, warning them that their personal…