There’s still no trace of purloined tapes containing backup copies of billing records from University Hospital that stretch back 16 years, but individual patients are beginning to receive letters telling them of the theft and what they can do. The U. has winnowed the list — once believed to contain 2.2 million people — down…
Category: Health Data
Americans Overwhelmingly Believe Electronic Personal Health Records Could Improve Their Health
The Markle Foundation has published a research brief based on a survey conducted among 1,580 American adults (18+) nationwide during the period of May 13-22, 2008. Among the findings: High perception of value: Regardless of their interest in using an online PHR service, 79 percent or more of the public believe using an online…
Schumer: Medicare Cards Risk Identity Theft
WNBC reports: Sen. Charles Schumer said the government is risking seniors’ financial information by putting their full Social Security numbers on their Medicare cards. He said Medicare is facilitating identity theft and he’s pushing a bill that would spend $500 million to issue new cards without the numbers. Is the problem that the numbers are…
U.S. electronic health-record standards agreed
Kim Dixon of Reuters reports: U.S. consumer groups, insurers and privacy advocates together with Google Inc and Microsoft Corp said on Wednesday they have agreed to standards intended to speed adoption of personal electronic health records. That’s nice, but as you read further into the report, you read that: “A policy and privacy logjam ……
Illinois Dept. of Human Services breach
On February 29, 2008, the Rockford Family Community Resource Center of the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS) Division of Human Capital Development (HCD) was notified by the police that in the course of an investigation, they had discovered 12 boxes of files with client records. One of the residents of the home being investigated…
Protected health information at risk; Ebara Technologies notifies participants of computer theft (update 1)
Ebara Technologies, Inc. Employee Medical Benefit Plan has recently notified the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office that a break-in at one of their vendors resulted in the theft of computers that may have contained protected health information of former and current plan participants. From the description of the incident, it appears that the unnamed…