I’ve been encouraging (ok, nagging) HIPAA lawyer Jeff Drummond of Jackson Walker to write a post explaining what the 60-day notification provision really means in HIPAA, as I’ve always had a lot of questions about it, such as: Does the 60-day clock start when the covered entity (CE) first discovers that they might have a…
Category: Health Data
Marijuana dispensaries hit by hack of tracking software system
Dan Adams reports: Marijuana shops across the country, including seven medical dispensaries in Massachusetts, are being affected by the apparent hack of a sales and inventory system widely used in the cannabis industry. […] MJ Freeway, a Denver company whose “seed-to-sale” tracking software is used by hundreds of marijuana companies to comply with state regulations,…
Canadian plastic surgery center and spa were leaking patient files
Dr. M.W. Elmaraghy, a Canadian plastic surgeon, owns SpaSurgica, an outpatient plastic surgery clinic in Waterloo. He also owns Rejuvenate Medical Spa, which is at the same location as SpaSurgica. On December 27, Bob Diachenko of the MacKeeper Security Research team contacted DataBreaches.net to say they had discovered patient data from those two entities was exposed and that anyone could…
Cosmetic surgery center discloses ransomware attack
The Susan M. Hughes Center is a cosmetic surgery and medical spa with locations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. On December 27, they notified HHS of a ransomware incident affecting 11,400 patients. The following is their statement about the incident: The Susan M. Hughes Center is committed to maintaining the privacy and security of patient information we maintain. This…
HHS OCR: Henrico Sen. Dunnavant’s political letter to patients broke health privacy rules, but no sanctions needed
There’s a follow-up to an HHS OCR investigation that I had noted back in October, 2015. And since we don’t see many OCR investigations reported like this one, it’s worth noting. Politicians who are also HIPAA-covered entities, in particular, may wish to take note. Graham Moomaw reports: State Sen. Siobhan S. Dunnavant, a Henrico County…
Eastern Health Investigating Unusual Privacy Breach
It was ultimately a case of calling the wrong phone number, but due to a combination of factors, the error wasn’t realized until after some patient information had been revealed. VOCM reports: Eastern Health is investigating after VOCM Backtalk host Pete Soucy found himself in a recent comedy of errors that resulted in a privacy…