The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT), part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has awarded approximately $450,000 to Booz Allen Hamilton, a strategy and consulting technology firm, to assess and evaluate the scope of the medical identity theft problem in the United States. The purpose of the…
Category: Health Data
Security sweep at NHS sites
Marjory Inglis of the Evening Telegraph reports: A report on an internal investigation into the events at Strathmartine was forwarded to the Scottish Government on Friday. The Government and the UK data watchdog launched investigations after the furore over Strathmartine. Local health chiefs came under fire last month after private records were found strewn around…
Blue Cross plans Web access to records
Jeffrey Krasner of The Boston Globe reports: Come this fall, members of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts will be able to go online to look up their healthcare claims and some medical records, which the insurer says will help patients manage their medical care and have more productive discussions with doctors. The feature…
Quest Diagnostics laptop stolen
Quest Diagnostics has notified the Maryland Attorney General’s office that an employee’s password-protected laptop containing names, addresses, and Social Security numbers was stolen on May 1. The notification letter did not indicate the total number of individuals with data on the laptop, whether the data belonged to patients or employees, or whether the laptop was…
Ex-patient sues storage firm over stolen U. records
Stephen Hunt of the Salt Lake Tribune reports: Just days after the University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics announced the theft of 2.2 million patients’ billing records containing a variety of personal information, the first lawsuit over the debacle has been filed. In a proposed class-action lawsuit filed Wednesday in 3rd District Court, former patient…
EPIC Urges Congress to Safeguard Medical Privacy
From EPIC.org: In response to a request from Congressman Edward Markey, EPIC recommended strong medical privacy safeguards in a bill that would establish a national framework for electronic health records. EPIC commended Congress for raising the vital issues implicated by digital health records, and recommended effective and meaningful privacy safeguards for consumers’ personal medical information….