I recently mentioned a lawsuit against a doctor by a former drug addiction patient who alleges the doctor violated confidentiality by basing the main character in his book on details she had shared with him in her treatment. This morning, I came across a patient confidentiality case in Finland, and was interested to read…
Category: Health Data
UK: Warwickshire-based company in medical data breach
A Warwickshire-based company has committed to taking action to protect personal data, following a breach of the Data Protection Act (DPA). The breach occurred when a system used by Pharmacyrepublic Limited to record the medication handed out to around 2000 patients was stolen from one of its premises, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said today….
GA: Ex-employee sought for stolen records
It seems like only this morning how we were saying that “data breach” isn’t a dirty word anymore. Oh wait, it was this morning. Here’s another case where someone either missed the memo or is so embarrassed/concern about fallout from the breach that their identity has not been disclosed in this report by Aspen Newspapers…
3rd doctor’s office targeted for laptop theft
Ah, so this breach was politically motivated. Tony Thomas reports: Some area OB-GYNs say they are being harassed after speaking out against a controversial bill being considered at the state Capitol. Dr. Richard Zane of the Atlanta Women’s Health Group said his office and two others have been broken into in the days following a…
You can do everything right, but still incur penalties – lessons learned from BCBS of Tennessee
Deborah Johnson Pyles writes: One of the lessons from the recent settlement agreement entered into by Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Tennessee with the Department of Health and Human Services is that doing everything right may not be enough. The settlement concerned alleged violations of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act privacy and security laws arising…
CVS Caremark mailing error exposes prescription information
Robert Weisman reports in The Boston Globe: CVS Caremark Corp. said Friday that it mistakenly sent letters to about 3,500 Tufts Health Plan members, giving them personal information about the medical conditions and medications of other members enrolled in a supplemental Medicare plan managed by Tufts. The mistake was due to an unspecified “programming error,”…