Shlachter, Baker & Fuquay write: Electronic health records are all the rage these days. The value of enabling medical researchers to mine the data to discover, say, more cost-effective treatments or to catch a communicable disease is pretty clear. But there could be a few less-scrupulous uses of that information, too, given that each of…
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Update: QxMD fixes privacy problem in Calculate
On October 30, PHIprivacy.net linked to an article on PCMag that described a review of an app, Calculate, by QxMD. The reviewer, Appthority, had found that “the registration and setup sends the doctor information, such as name, e-mail, and location over the network in plaintext,” despite the app’s assurance that all information was encrypted. At the time,…
For three years, employee data sat on a former employee's device, unbeknownst to all
On October 24, Rotech Healthcare, Inc. reported a data security breach to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office that involved some health information. According to their letter to the state, on August 30, they learned that a former employee took some files with her when she left the firm on November 26, 2010. Those files contained…
You know that blood test your doctor ran as part of your wellness check? The state can subpoena the results.
I came across a case in Texas on FourthAmendment.com that gave me food for thought. From Owens v. State 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 13767 (Tex. App. – Houston (1st Dist.) November 7, 2013): In State v. Hardy, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals held that the State’s subpoena of the results of blood tests conducted by private…
Unencrypted laptops still a major cause of breach reports to HHS
Here’s a run-down of the 29 breaches HHS added to its breach tool today, organized by those we already knew about vs. ones that we didn’t know about. With today’s additions, the breach counter on HHS for breaches affecting over 500 patients stands at 711 since September 23, 2009 when HITECH reporting requirements went into…
So the police have a warrant…. does that compel the physician to help execute it?
Decades ago, while teaching emergency medical techniques to police and fire department personnel, a volunteer ambulance worker asked us what he should have done when a police officer on the scene ordered him to do something that he felt was wrong from an emergency medical standpoint. “He threatened to arrest me if I didn’t comply,…