There’s a new commercially developed product that may help consumers detect medical ID theft or fraudulent use of their information promptly so it can be addressed. Given how research has shown that most people do not check their Explanation of Benefits statements and don’t report discrepancies or anomalies when they do find them, this has…
Category: Health Data
Police solve riddle of who stole files that blew up A-Rod’s career
A DNA match has unraveled the mystery of the stolen steroid files that Major League Baseball used to torpedo the career of New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez. Baseball investigators purchased the stolen files from Gary Jones, a convicted bank robber, for $25,000 last March, in a secret meeting in South Florida that Jones…
CA: Cottage Health System Notifies Patients of Data Security Incident (update)
Cottage Health System has learned that a recent security incident may have resulted in the disclosure of protected health information for certain patients treated at Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital, Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital and Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital between Sept. 29, 2009, and Dec. 2, 2013. On Dec. 2, Cottage discovered that a third-party…
UK: Islington Town Hall data breach victims set to receive compensation payouts of up to £5k
Andrew Johnson reports: The [Islington] Town Hall has agreed to pay compensation totalling £43,000 to 14 residents whose personal details, including mental health problems and sexual orientation, were leaked in two disastrous data breaches last year. A full written apology will also be sent to the claimants, who have been awarded between £1,000 and £5,000…
Orthopedic surgeon's laptop stolen in home burglary; 8,900 patients notified of data theft
San Jose-based orthopedic surgeon Stephen T. Imrie, M.D. is notifying 8,900 patients that a password-protected laptop stolen from his home on September 23 held their protected health information. Although the burglary was immediately reported to the police, the laptop has not been recovered. Patient information on the laptop included the patients’ names, dates of birth, telephone…
Kaiser Permanente reports privacy breach to 49,000 patients
Chad Terhune reports: Healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente has notified about 49,000 patients of a privacy breach at its Anaheim Medical Center. Kaiser said a computer flash drive was reported missing Sept. 25 inside the hospital’s nuclear medicine department. The storage drive included patient names, date of birth, their medical record number and the type and…