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…
Category: Health Data
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,”…
Attorney Claims Firm Swiped Asbestos Files (updated)
Matt Reynolds reports on a lawsuit that involves allegations of stolen client files from a law firm. A lawyer is suing his former law firm, alleging that they terminated him when he discovered and blew the whistle on their use of confidential files from another law firm. Those files had allegedly been copied and…
NL: Workers' medical details passed to employers by 'absenteeism stoppers'
This falls under workplace privacy as well as health privacy: The Netherlands’ biggest private health and safety firm (arbodienst) has been passing confidential medical information to employers, television current affairs show Zembla will report on Friday evening. Many Dutch firms rely on private companies to monitor health and safety in the workplace, follow up on…
CardioNet reports two breaches involving laptop theft (?) and other breaches newly revealed on HHS's breach tool
Sometimes it takes a while for me to track down details on a breach after seeing it mentioned on HHS’s breach tool. And sometimes, it’s just too late. A case in point is an entry for Flex Physical Therapy in Washington, where apparently 3,100 patients were affected by a computer theft on December 30, 2011. But…