Category: Uncategorized

Daniel Gaitan reports: People being tested for sexually transmitted diseases can now use their computers or iPhones to quickly get the results, and experts hope this easy access will make them more likely to honestly share their STD status with their partners. The new service, called Healthvana, allows patients access to their lab results once…

Group Health Incorporated (GHI), which merged into Emblem Health, recently reported to HHS that 802 insured members were affected by a breach involving paper records. In a statement dated August 21 on their web site, Emblem Health explains:  EmblemHealth is notifying approximately 800 GHI members about a privacy breach that was discovered in July 2014. On July…

The previously reported March 2014 hack involving StayWell Health‘s subcontractor Onsite Health Diagnostics also affected employees of Staples in Massachusetts. The office supply firm notified HHS that 3,470 of their employees were affected. HHS’s log does not indicate when Staples reported the incident to them. As reported previously on this blog, other entities affected by…

Just a small update: According to its submission to HHS, the stolen thumb drive contained PHI on 10,993 patients. Ouch.

TBO reports: Tampa General Hospital terminated an employee who improperly accessed the personal information of 675 patients. Without authorization, the employee accessed single-page cover sheets that included patient names, addresses, birthdays, diagnoses and insurers, a hospital official said. Some of the sheets included social security numbers. The hospital is not sure what happened to all…

A really thought-provoking piece on Vox this week, written by a biologist who used 23andMe – and had his parents use it, too. To his surprise, he discovered he had a half-sibling. And the revelation broke his family apart. Read the story on Vox.