On April 28, DataBreaches reported that two different ransomware groups claimed to have attacked Albany ENT & Allergy Services, P.C. in Albany, New York. This week, Albany ENT & Allergy Services notified regulators and 224,486 affected employees and patients about a breach. Their notification is stunning, however, for its lack of certain details. In their…
Category: HIPAA
HHS Office for Civil Rights Settles HIPAA Investigation with Arkansas Business Associate MedEvolve Following Unlawful Disclosure of Protected Health Information on an Unsecured Server for $350,000
As background: this case began with someone finding an unsecured FTP server owned by MedEvolve. He reported it to DataBreaches. This site first reported on the leak in 2018. This site also reported when MedEvolve issued a statement months later, and again two years later when HHS got them to notify patients. Today, the U.S….
HHS Cybersecurity Task Force Provides New Resources to Help Address Rising Threat of Cyberattacks in Health and Public Health Sector
On April 17, 2023, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) 405(d) Program announced the release of the following resources to help address cybersecurity concerns in the Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) Sector: Knowledge on Demand – a new online educational platform that offers free cybersecurity trainings for health and public health organizations to…
Lawsuit Claims Mount Nittany Health Shared Private Patient Information with Facebook, Google (update1)
Geoff Rushton reports: A lawsuit filed in Centre County Court this week alleges that Mount Nittany Health violated medical privacy rights by disclosing patients’ private information to Facebook, Google and other third-party websites without their knowledge. Ah. Another tracker lawsuit, right? What caught DataBreaches’ eye about this one was the following: … Mount Nittany has…
HHS Office for Civil Rights Announces the Expiration of COVID-19 Public Health Emergency HIPAA Notifications of Enforcement Discretion
Notifications of Enforcement Discretion expire at 11:59 pm on May 11, 2023 Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announces that the Notifications of Enforcement Discretion issued under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health…
HIPAA: Deficient or Miscast
Matt Fisher writes: The development of new technology in healthcare and the massive expansion in sources of healthcare data have both created many complications when it comes to protecting and securing sensitive information about individuals. Inevitably, the discussion then turns to the role of HIPAA, which then turns to HIPAA not meeting current needs. A recent…