Dan Packel reports that once again, an insurance company is suing for judgement that it is not liable for covering its insured over a data breach: Peerless Insurance Co. filed suit in Pennsylvania federal court Thursday to get out of covering losses for a company that mishandled patient medical records when relocating a clinic acquired…
Category: Health Data
University of Rochester Medical Center notifies patients of misplaced USB drive
The University of Rochester Medical Center has sent letters to a group of former orthopaedic patients, alerting them to the loss of protected health information. Earlier this week, URMC notified 537 patients that a resident physician misplaced a USB computer flash drive that carried protected health information. The flash drive was used to transport information…
FTC Panel Highlights Growing Problem of Medical Identity Theft, Especially Among Senior Citizens
Identity theft is the nation’s fastest-growing crime, claiming almost ten million victims per year, according to FBI statistics. Medical identity theft is the latest threat to affect patients—especially senior citizens. To address this growing epidemic, the Federal Trade Commission will host the educational forum “Senior Identity Theft: A Problem in This Day and Age” to discuss the challenges facing victims of…
Where there's a breach, there's a lawsuit, Wednesday edition
A few weeks ago I noted that William Jennings Bryan Dorn VA Medical Center in South Carolina was notifying over 7,000 patients of a breach involving a stolen laptop. Now two of the veterans affected have filed a lawsuit over the breach. Additional details on the lawsuit, which was filed April 12, can be found here.
TN: Confidential patient records found in former Lakeshore building (updated)
John Henry reports: Lakeshore Mental Health Institute stopped admitting patients in 2012, but some of the clients’ records were still at the facility Tuesday. Former Lakeshore employee Hilda Lindeman was walking through Lakeshore Park when she noticed old patients records were on the floor of an abandoned, easily accessible hospital building named Waterside. She showed…
Hope Hospice notifies patients after email with PHI sent insecurely on two occasions
Hope Hospice officials say they recently discovered a possible information security breach after a routine check found that an employee had e-mailed a report of recent referral and admission activity to themselves through an unsecured channel. Information in the e-mail, which was sent in December and again in February, included names of over 800 Hope…