Rachel King reports: Computer-security researchers have discovered on a website documents that could allow hackers easily to obtain electronic medical records and payment information from health-care providers. The documents—found by two cybersecurity firms on a site commonly used by hackers—detail the type of equipment used in computer networks, the Internet addresses for computers and other…
Category: Health Data
Breaches: Avoiding Legal Woes
Marianne Kolbasuk McGee interviewed David Navetta of InformationLawGroup on how covered entities can avoid legal woes related to breaches and the significance of a recent settlement between Kaiser and the California Attorney General’s Office. You can listen to the interview on HealthcareInfoSecurity.com. It’s important for covered entities to remember that although HIPAA may allow you…
Coalition complains to OCR about Dignity Health's use of patient information
Steven Slivka of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on an OCR complaint last week. According to Slivka, the Nevada Health Services Coalition filed a complaint against Dignity Health, the owner of St. Rose Dominican Hospitals, alleging improper use of patient information. The caption for the accompanying photo, which appears to be misleading or just erroneous, says, “The…
Triple-S Salud fined $6.8M for HIPAA breach (updated)
Caribbean Business reports that Triple-S Salud has been fined nearly $6.8 million for violations of the federal Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA). Triple-S Salud is a licensee of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Puerto Rico and handles managed care for Medicare enrollees. The penalty handed down by the Puerto Rico government’s Medical Insurance Administration…
Olmstead Medical Center breach update
KAAL-TV reports: It was reported to the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office that an employee at the Olmsted Medical Center in Byron had their tax information stolen and the IRS has already sent their tax return to someone else. The Rochester Police Department told us they’ve had about a dozen reports of this happening. This comes…
TN: Bag stolen from Memphis VA provider compromises veterans' info
Shay Harris reports: United States Veteran Levern Garner received a letter from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Memphis two weeks before Christmas. “The letter stated some information had come up missing off the VA property,” said Garner. The missing documents included Garner’s personal information to be exact. According to the letter written by VA…