Sherry Jacobson reports: UT Southwestern Medical Center accidentally transmitted the immunization records of about 1,000 patients to a confidential Texas registry used by physicians, health departments and school districts. Letters were sent last week to the UTSW patients involved, expressing regret that their vaccination information had been shared with ImmTrac, a statewide registry service used…
Category: Health Data
Columbia Casualty asks court to let it off the hook for $4.1M settlement in Cottage Health System breach
So you apply for cyberinsurance and in your application, you describe all the security controls and policies you have in place. And an insurance company looks it all over and issues you a policy because you meet the minimum security practices they require. But then you don’t actually adhere to all the controls and policies you…
When storing old medical records matters
Over on PHIprivacy.net, I had often questioned the fact that so many healthcare facilities retain patients’ medical records forever. And while those stored records pose a risk in terms of breaches, I had also noted that there might be times when having a patient’s very old records could actually be helpful. Here’s another example. KPLR reports:…
OH: MetroHealth reports data breach for 981 heart patients due to malware
Brie Zeltner reports: The MetroHealth System is notifying almost 1,000 patients who received heart catheterization procedures at the hospital over the past year that their protected health information may have been accessed when three computers were hacked there. The health system discovered “malware” or malicious software, on three computers in its Cardiac Cath Lab, according…
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center patients victimized by rogue employee of Medical Management LLC
UPMC is only one of “numerous” clients of NC-based Medical Management LLC that have reportedly been notified of data theft by a rogue employee. We’ll have to wait to learn who the other entities are. The following is a press release issued today by UPMC: Because of a data theft at an outside medical billing company,…
HealthCare.gov Contractor Optum Declares Its Job Done
Louise Radnofsky reports: The contractor tapped to rescue the flailing HealthCare.gov in the fall of 2013 declared its work finished Thursday and said it doesn’t plan to continue overseeing the website that sells subsidized insurance to millions of Americans as part of the federal health law. […] Many of the remaining technological challenges for the…