Steve Twedt reports: Highmark Inc. officials today said some results from a health risk assessment sent to 3,675 Security Blue and Freedom Blue members and their providers were sent to the wrong people. “Due to an error in the mailing process, several members reported receiving risk assessments belonging to other members in addition to their own,”…
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Salisbury, NC VA notifying 182 veterans after vouchers with SSN go missing
The VA Medical Center in Salisbury, North Carolina notified veterans after vouchers with their SSN went missing in an incident in March. According to the VA’s monthly report to Congress: There are 182 travel vouchers missing that contain Veterans’ names, full SSNs, and other information. The facility received a multitude of phone calls from Veterans…
Ca: Major privacy breach involving thousands of new mums uncovered at Rouge Valley hospital
Joel Eastwood reports: A major privacy breach at a Scarborough hospital is being investigated by Ontario’s privacy commissioner after the contact information of thousands of new mothers was leaked to companies that were allegedly paying off hospital employees. As many as 8,300 patients had their name, address and phone number turned over to private companies…
Follow-up: West Palm woman, leader of identity theft ring, given 10-year sentence
Julius Whigham II reports: A 36-year-old West Palm Beach woman who was the the leader of an identity theft ring has been sentenced to 10 years and one month in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Monday. Prosecutors said Jennifer Robinson, 36, organized a scheme to steal the identities of patients at a medical facility…
CA: State pharmacy controlled substance database doesn’t violate patients’ privacy rights
FourthAmendment.com informs us: A patient does not have a substantial enough state constitutional privacy right to overcome the public interest in making prescription controlled substances records inspections at pharmacies. Pharmacies are highly regulated, and there are sufficient other general protections of patient information. Reporting sales of controlled substances through the state database (CURES) is not,…
Four more breaches added to HHS's breach tool
Four breaches were recently added to HHS’s breach tool that were not previously reported on this blog: Howard L. Weinstein D.P.M. of Texas reported that 1,000 patients were notified after a laptop with their information was stolen on March 13. A statement on his website says that names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and medical information were on four…