Category: Health Data

Maxine Bernstein of The Oregonian reports: The last thing Portland Officer Christina Nelson wanted to do was tell fellow officers that she had stomach-band surgery to lose weight and now required more surgery because of complications. She was afraid the news would spread like wildfire, and there would be no end to the ribbing from…

The Columbus Telegram reports that the Adams County Historical Society is appealing a February court decision that let a former state psychiatric hospital keep sealed the identities of 957 people buried in its cemetery. This case is interesting because it pits HIPAA’s provisions that would protect information after death against freedom of information and public…

Enric Volante reports in the Arizona Daily Star: Mismanagement at the federal Indian Health Service has resulted in millions of dollars of equipment being lost or stolen across the nation, including in Arizona, congressional investigators reported. […] Gregory D. Kutz, managing director of forensic audits and special investigations for the GAO, the investigative arm of…

Tougher controls to protect patients’ personal and medical data should be introduced at the city’s hospitals following a series of security blunders, the territory’s privacy watchdog said Tuesday. Roderick Woo, the privacy commissioner, made 37 recommendations to the Hospital Authority after inspecting the data security system at one of its hospitals. Full story – Monsters…

George Lauer reports: It’s not going to change things overnight, but the merger of two of the biggest players in the electronic prescription market might accelerate the adoption of delivering health care digitally beyond the prescribing of drugs. Prescriptions will obviously be the first and most affected, but industry experts predict other portions of the…

Jill Coley reports: Medical records belonging to state Medicaid patients have gone electronic. In July, the South Carolina Health Information Exchange made 800,000 medical histories of disabled and poor residents available to physicians, clinics and hospitals. Privacy advocates urge caution. “Medical privacy for many people is one of the most important forms of privacy,” said…