Katie Jickling reports: University of Vermont Medical Center’s IT chief revealed Tuesday that it was a ransomware attack that downed the hospital’s online systems in October. Jickling’s article provides a helpful update from what happened to how things are going with restoration. The hit was obviously a serious one, as information on 1,300 servers was encrypted, and the…
Category: HIPAA
TennCare announces privacy breach impacting 3,300 members
WKRN reports: TennCare, Gainwell Technologies LLC, and Axis Direct, Inc. announced a privacy breach impacting certain TennCare members in a joint statement on Monday. According to the statement, around 3,300 Medicaid members in the state of Tennessee have been notified of a privacy issue that may have impacted their health information. Gainwell, which runs the…
Premier Kids Care, Inc. notifies patients of attack first discovered in April
Premier Kids Care, Inc. (PKC) of Georgia provides specialized pharmacy and home clinical services for children with diabetes, endocrinological, and perinatal needs. On April 6, 2020, PKC discovered it had been targeted by a cyberattack and that an unauthorized actor had gained access to PKC systems. An investigation into the incident revealed that the unauthorized…
GenRx Pharmacy Breach Notice Shows How to Do It Right
This may be one of the best breach notifications I have ever read — for its plain language, clarity, and lack of attempt to spin. Not only did these folks respond promptly to an attack, but they had usable backups, stopped the attack quickly, and just…. handled this so well, it seems. Maybe they didn’t…
MEDNAX Services notifies patients of data breach
Another business associate under HIPAA has disclosed a breach. You may not recognize their name, but they may handle your medical group’s billing or other functions, so if you get a letter from “MEDNAX,” don’t just assume it’s a scam. Florida-headquartered MEDNAX Services, Inc provides revenue cycle management and other administrative services to physician groups. …
OCR Releases Its 2016-2017 Audit Report on Health Care Industry Compliance with the HIPAA Rules
Today, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released its 2016-2017 HIPAA Audits Industry Report that reviewed selected health care entities and business associates for compliance with certain provisions of the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical…