I was glad to see that Health Data Management followed up on a breach where the entity said it wasn’t a HIPAA breach and had no duty to notify: Responding to questions from Health Data Management, a Michigan Department of Community Health spokesperson said the compromised data “were not medical records and therefore, no notification…
Category: Health Data
Insider threat, redux
Tampa Bay Times reports: Federal authorities say employees at James A. Haley VA Medical Center and Tampa General Hospital stole patients’ identities in tax fraud schemes. Haley employee David F. Lewis is accused of taking the names and Social Security numbers of dozens of hospital patients and selling the information to people who used it to…
Michigan Cancer Consortium hacked, almost 50,000 notified
No detailed medical records were involved, but the Michigan Department of Community Health is notifying nearly 50,000 affected residents that their PII/PHI may have fallen into the hands of a hacker. CBS Detroit reports the state has sent out letters after computers hosting the Michigan Cancer Consortium website were accessed by hackers. “They were reports…
MA: Medical records discovered in dumpster
Laura Hutchinson reports that a passerby discovered medical files left in a dumpster. The files were from Behavioral Health Network in Springfield. A spokesperson for BHN was reportedly surprised by the discovery: Darcy says this shouldn’t happened because they pay to get records shredded. “They come in and shred documents right on the premises before they take it…
Clients discover security breach on insurance carrier’s patient portal
Jenny Anchondo reports from Indianapolis: A security breach with a local health insurance company has been exposing members’ home addresses, cell phone numbers, prescriptions and extensive medical information in an online portal. The company had no clue about the issue, until Fox 59 notified them. So how many people might have been impacted? Fox 59…
Recent HHS updates
HHS has updated its breach tool again. Here are the new additions, starting with the ones we already knew about: Fayetteville VAMC UMASS Amherst Various Health Plans, AL, SynerMed / Inland Valleys IPA (note: 3,164 were affected) Lincoln County Health and Human Services/Lincoln Community Health Center (note: 959 were affected) Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Palm…