Category: Health Data

Brian Robinson reports in Government Health IT: When sharing health information, government agencies must abide by rules established under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which does not allow such information to be transmitted unprotected via public networks. That seems like a simple rule, but schemes that provide secure sharing, such as public-key…

Diana Manos writes in Healthcare IT News: A genetic nondiscrimination bill approved Thursday by a Senate panel won’t protect people from potentially losing their jobs or health insurance if the information gets out electronically, a privacy activist said. Deborah Peel, MD, founder of Patient Privacy Rights, said the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), approved April…

George Lauer of iHealthBeat reports: The timing couldn’t have been better — or worse, depending on your perspective. April 13 through 19 was Health Information Privacy and Security Week. Started five years ago by the American Health Information Management Association, the week’s intent is to schedule events and publicity to raise public and professional awareness…

CONFIDENTIAL medical details of more than 1,000 patients have been exposed after a hospital employee left them on public transport. The Addenbrooke’s Hospital worker lost a spreadsheet stored on a USB memory stick along with a printed copy of 1,300 patient names and test records. The details include the dates and types of tests that…

Nancy Ferris reports on Government Health IT: The California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) has directed its health plans, which cover more than 1.2 million people, to participate in the statewide health information exchange that is under development. The decision is a shot in the arm for the California Regional Health Information Organization (CalRHIO), which…

Jim Reiner’s presentation at the 15th National HIPAA Summit is now available online.