Remember the 2010 case where four Massachusetts pathology groups’ records were found dumped improperly by their business associate, Goldthwait Associates? There’s been a settlement in the case: BOSTON – Former owners of a Marblehead-based medical billing practice and four pathology groups have agreed to collectively pay $140,000, settling allegations that sensitive medical records and confidential…
Category: Health Data
Man admits to paying hospital employees to steal patient data
An update to the Florida Hospital breach where an employee, Dale Munroe II, and his wife were selling patient information. Munroe pleaded guilty in October, and now Sergei Kusyakov has, too. Amy Pavuk reports: Federal authorities say Sergei Kusyakov, who was involved with Metro Chiropractic and Wellness Center and City Lights Medical Center, illegally obtained private information about…
Saint Raphael Healthcare System sued because employee took – and circulated – pictures of young gunshot victim's corpse
Sometimes it’s hard to wrap my head around the fact the hospital employees engage in egregious privacy and confidentiality violations. Christine Stuart of Courthouse News reports on a lawsuit against Saint Raphael Healthcare System . The lawsuit alleges that in June, 2011, a Hospital of St. Raphael employee used his cellphone to take a picture…
It's 10 pm. Do you know where your patients' data are?
Financial disputes may underlie some vendors retaining patient or client data – as in the Kaiser Permanente/Surefile Filing Systems case I’ve blogged about on this site or the Irvine Scientific breach I described on DataBreaches.net. But there are other possible motivations for not relinquishing or taking data as well. Maura Lerner of the Star Tribune…
What percent of patients notified of a privacy breach actually change providers?
Infographics are getting as overused as PowerPoint, but occasionally I see one that catches my eye with an interesting finding. Case in point: this infographic with the results of a U.S. patient survey conducted in 2011 by FairWarning (open in new window and click to enlarge). My comments are after the infographic. Some of the…
Breaking up is hard to do, part 2: The vendor strikes back
Today’s Los Angeles Times covers a situation I discussed yesterday involving Kaiser Permanente and Surefile Filing Systems*. Because Chad Terhune’s report involves statements by Stephan Dean, owner of Surefile, some of its details may appear to contradict what I reported yesterday. In actuality, the “he said – they said” nature of the reporting simply emphasizes…