As of this morning, more than a dozen rehabilitation hospitals have disclosed a breach with unauthorized access to their systems between January 16 and February 4. The intrusion was discovered on February 1. The attack resulted in access to patient data that included names and at least one of “addresses, birth dates, medical record numbers,…
Category: HIPAA
Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation breached, patient data involved
A new leaksite appeared this past week that appears to have been created for one particular incident. The notice begins: Dear Visitor of Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation LEAK website: We regret to inform you that Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation has experienced a complete data breach from its internal servers. This includes the data of all patients, medical…
AHA seeks guidance on reporting breaches linked to Change cyberattack
Naomi Diaz reports: The American Hospital Association sent a letter to the HHS urging them to clarify whether hospitals and health systems should be providing breach notification to patients if protected health information is compromised due to the Feb. 21 cyberattack on Change Healthcare. The March 21 letter, penned to Melanie Fontes Rainer, acting director of the…
Indiana Attorney General Files Suit Against Apria Healthcare
Attorney General Todd Rokita is filing a lawsuit on behalf of the people of Indiana against Apria Healthcare LLC for a massive data breach that impacted at least 42,000 Hoosiers and 1.8 million people nationwide. Apria is a provider of home healthcare equipment and related services across the United States. Apria provides medical equipment to over…
Three recent breach disclosures remind us how seldom timely breach notification is enforced under HITECH
Three recent data breach disclosures involving patient data all exceeded HIPAA’s 60-day deadline to notify HHS and individuals. Yakima Valley Radiology A breach involving the Washington state radiology service was added to Karakurt’s leak site in November 2023 with a listing claiming — without proof — that they had acquired 9.31 GB of files with financial…
NIST Publishes Final “Cybersecurity Resource Guide” on Implementing the HIPAA Security Rule
Jennifer Hennessy and Christopher Taylor of Foley & Lardner write: In an important development for HIPAA-regulated entities looking for practical assistance in understanding, implementing, and enhancing compliance with the HIPAA Security Rule, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has finalized its comprehensive guidance, Implementing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Security Rule: A…