From the FTC: The Federal Trade Commission will host a workshop on April 24, 2008, to examine recent trends related to health care delivery. This workshop will bring together representatives of physician and healthcare associations, industry, privacy groups, academia, federal and state government, and other experts. The workshop participants will engage in several panel discussions…
Category: Health Data
Michigan: improper disposal of medical waste and medical records
Korie Wilkins of Freep writes: Officials are investigating the improper disposal of fetal matter, bloody surgical pads and medical records in a Dumpster outside a Lathrup Village abortion clinic. The medical waste was removed from the Dumpster outside the WomanCare clinic on Southfield Road by a licensed hazardous waste hauler, said Sgt. Vincent Lynch of…
Grim outlook for Congress passing health legislation in 2008?
Today’s Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report has a piece, Roll Call Examines Prospects for Health Care Legislation This Year in Congress. Not surprisingly to me, you have to go all the way down to the very last statement in the piece before you find any mention of privacy: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.): Failure in the…
Health files are sold as scrap paper to Utahn
Aaron Falk writes in the Deseret Morning News: Why Louis Mezzoni walked into Central Florida Regional Hospital in May 2006 is, frankly, none of your business. His medical records — as are nearly all medical records in the U.S. — are private, guarded heavily by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. When, at 77,…
Nassau officials say privacy laws hinder probes
Erik German writes in Newsday: More than 10 days have passed since police say three New Cassel children were killed by their troubled mother, and Nassau County officials say they still don’t have what they need to fully investigate. “Right now I’m sitting here, there are three kids dead and I don’t have full information…
U.S. seeks input on national biobank
Alan Bavley of McClatchy Newspapers writes: In large upright freezers, researchers at St. Luke’s Hospital are stashing tens of thousands of tiny tubes that will hold blood samples of up to 2,000 people. It’s a major project to study patients’ medical charts and look for the genes and blood proteins that put people with diabetes…