Category: Uncategorized

Lari Barager provides a useful reminder as to how mental health records can lose their confidentiality protection: The psychologist who presented the controversial “affluenza” defense for teenager Ethan Couch has been ordered to turn over his records for a civil trial. Dr. Dick Miller treated Couch and his parents after the 16-year-old killed four people…

For years – even before the mainstream media caught on to the epidemic – PHIprivacy.net had been reporting cases of insider data theft for tax refund fraud schemes and calling special attention to Florida. By now, everyone seems to acknowledge that Florida is a hotbed of such crime. Yet despite this growing recognition of an ongoing and serious problem,…

From a press release by the NYS Comptroller: Stony Brook University Hospital’s Health Information Management Department repeatedly failed to comply with state guidelines and university policies related to contracting, vendor monitoring, and hiring or promotions, possibly costing taxpayers nearly $1 million, according to an audit released today by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. […] “We…

The hearing originally scheduled for today no longer appears on their schedule and has apparently been postponed.

GAO has released a report on Healthcare.gov. Here are some of the highlights of the report: While CMS has taken steps to protect the security and privacy of data processed and maintained by the complex set of systems and interconnections that support Healthcare.gov, weaknesses remain both in the processes used for managing information security and…

Rebekah L. Sanders reports: The Department of Veterans Affairs is investigating whether a top employee in Phoenix violated patient-privacy law when he sent an e-mail to staffers about a veteran’s suicide highlighted in a political ad by U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. Glenn Costie, acting director of the Phoenix VA Healthcare System, sent the e-mail…