Justin Shafer pointed me to a case where the government, investigating a healthcare provider, served SaaS MicroMD with a federal search warrant for some patients’ data. You can read Justin’s write-up on his blog, but the case reminds us that patient data can be disclosed to law enforcement without patients’ awareness or consent, and that unencrypted patient…
Category: Health Data
Ringleader of $24 Million Stolen Identity Tax Refund Fraud Ring Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison
There’s another follow-up to a case previously reported on PHIprivacy.net and more recently, on this site (here and here). A resident of Newnan, Georgia, was sentenced Friday to prison for her role as the ringleader of a $24 million stolen identity tax refund fraud (SIRF) conspiracy. The sentence was announced by Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of…
NJ: Horizon BCBS notifies members that perps posing as doctors stole their insurance information
Sometimes criminals steal identity information or insurance information to defraud insurers. But while we’ve seen doctors using patients’ insurance information to defraud insurers, it’s a bit unusual to hear that criminals actually posed as doctors to gain access to insurance information that they then used in insurance fraud. That seems to be what happened in this…
CA: Silverberg Surgical and Medical Group notifies patients of PHI exposure
Silverberg Surgical and Medical Group in California is notifying patients after learning that for almost two years, patient health records were exposed on the Internet. In an undated template notification letter submitted to the California Attorney General’s Office today, they write: Based on our investigation, on September 10, 2013 a document scanning device inadvertently exposed some patient health…
OCR “actively working” on Systema Software breach
Chris Vickery, who discovered the Systema Software leak, informs DataBreaches.net that he filed a complaint with HHS/OCR about the leak. Of note, and in response to an inquiry he sent on September 17 asking about the status of his complaint, OCR responded today: We are aware of this case and are actively working on it. …
MI: Mental health patients’ insurance information in stolen courier’s car
Shandra Martinez reports: A Wyoming medical billing firm is trying to contact patients of one its clients that a vehicle theft could result in a data breach of customer information. Insurance Data Services, at 1161 58th St. in Wyoming, says a West Michigan Delivery Service courier car delivering mailings for a client was stolen Sept….