Mary Katherine Wildeman and Lauren Sausser report: Thirteen employees were fired in 2017 from the Medical University of South Carolina after administrators determined they had broken federal law by using patient records without permission, spying on patient files or disclosing private information. Some of these privacy breaches involved high-profile patients. Read more on Charleston Post…
Category: Health Data
Sensitive info may be compromised after City of Houston employee’s laptop stolen
KHOU reports: Information about City of Houston employees’ health insurance may have been compromised after an employee’s laptop computer was stolen. City officials say the laptop was stolen from the employee’s car on Feb. 2. They say the password-protected computer may have contained city employees’ records, including names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers…
Ontario Superior Court: Insurer on the hook to defend hospital employee in privacy breach lawsuit
Lyle Adriano reports: The Ontario Superior Court has ruled that an insurance company is obligated to defend a hospital employee against a privacy breach lawsuit by a former patient. In the case Oliveira v. Aviva Canada Inc., the ex-patient alleged that the employee – who is not involved in providing care to the patient –…
Supreme Court denies CareFirst’s petition to review data breach case
Evan Sweeney reports: The U.S. Supreme Court has denied an appeal filed by CareFirst to review a case stemming from a 2014 data breach. The Supreme Court issued its decision on Tuesday, eliminating the possibility, for now, that the court will weigh in on questions about whether the possibility of harm from a data breach is…
UVA Health System Notifies 1,882 Patients About HIPAA Breach
WVIR reports: The University of Virginia Health System is notifying patients of a cyber attack that affected the hospital. The hacker was able to get access to private medical records for 19 months. The FBI discovered that a physician’s devices with the Health System were infected with malware, which allowed the hacker to see what…
White and Bright Family Dental notifies patients after hackers accessed PHI
White and Bright Family Dental in Fresno is notifying patients of a recent hack. In a letter dated February 16 to patients, they write: On January 30, 2018, a business computer server containing your protected health information was accessed by cyber criminals. We immediately notified the Fresno Police Department, so that identification and prosecution of…