Chris Morran writes: In an effort intended to provide pharmacy customers a less impersonal experience, some Walgreens stores have been redesigned to get pharmacists out in the store, consulting with customers at desks, without the traditional counter (and sometimes panes of bulletproof glass) between them. But the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services wants…
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CVS Sued Over Controversial Wellness Program
Hunter Stuart reports: A CVS employee is suing the pharmacy chain over its controversial health-screening program. CVS cashier Roberta Watterson claims the company made her disclose personal information, including her weight and level of sexual activity, threatening to charge her $600 a year if she refused. CVS’ so-called “wellness review,” first reported last year, is a fairly extreme…
FL: Five Defendants Sentenced In Identity Theft Tax Refund Fraud And Access Device Fraud Schemes
Alex Dontfred, 29, David Tilus, 27, Sherika Rowe, 20, Fritznel Etienne, 24, and Latonya Ware, 27, all of Lauderhill, were sentenced for their participation in a stolen identity tax refund scheme and an access device fraud scheme that resulted in the submission of over $137,000 in fraudulent tax refund claims and over $49,000 in unauthorized…
HHS OIG penetration testing reveals Indian Health Services network security flaws
The Office of the Inspector General of HHS has released a report on penetration testing conducted on the Indian Health Services (IHS) network in June 2013. The testing was conducted, in part, because in its 2011 audit of IT general network controls, OIG found deficiencies that could allow attackers to gain access to the IHS…
Newborn screening bill pits medical groups against privacy rights advocates
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t? The controversial newborn blood screening program in Minnesota that I’ve mentioned before on this blog is back in the news – this time for a case where a parent wanted to access her deceased daughter’s blood screen records, only to find it had been destroyed the day…
Boffins propose brainwave privacy standard
Simon Sharwood reports: Researchers from MIT Media Lab and the Technical University of Denmark have raised the issue of “Privacy for Personal Neuroinformatics”, a field they feel deserves attention because brainwave data is starting to go public. The four writers’ paper on the idea points out that electroencephalography (EEG) has been around for ages and records brain…