Jim Hall reports: A security breach in an online computer system at Mary Washington Hospital exposed the private medical information of some of its maternity patients. A man who tried to use the Fredericksburg hospital’s online registration system for his expectant wife said the files for 803 patients were publicly available on the site. On…
Category: Health Data
PHR Privacy Questions Get Tougher When Criminal Justice System Involved
Dennis Melamed writes: The Kabuki we see in the transition to electronic health records obscures two obvious and fundamental issues: The nature of the confidentiality privilege for electronic records maintained by patients instead of doctors; and The right to avoid self-incrimination when medical records contain information that might result in criminal prosecutions. Both issues deal…
ONC tackles medical identity theft
Diana Manos reports: Leaders and stakeholders gathered this week to discuss medical identity theft and how the federal government could lead a campaign to prevent it. In a town hall meeting sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), experts explained how statistics are scarce…
UK: Hospital's high risk over patients' records
John Morgan reports: There is a “high risk” of patient data being lost at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. A risk assessment by the hospital itself states that the high volume of data handled at the trust by a high number of staff means the risk cannot be eliminated altogether. The News has found that information lost by…
Los Angeles Area Health Care Company Owner Pleads Guilty to Medical Identity Theft and Medicare Fraud
A La Crescenta man pleaded guilty today to federal criminal charges of defrauding Medicare by using patients’ Medicare identification numbers without their knowledge, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Matthew Friedrich and U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Thomas P. O’Brien announced. Between August 2003 and April 2008, Melkon Gabriyelyan,…
Landmark 20-year study to assess impact of personal genetic testing
A consortium of US healthcare, technology and research leaders have joined forces in a first-of-its-kind research study to assess the behavioural impact of personal genetic testing on people who choose to receive such screenings to identify their potential risk for developing certain diseases. Sponsored by the US Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI), the study aims…