From the Executive Summary of this new white paper: Amid the rapid growth of mobile network technology and infrastructure throughout the world, especially in low- and middle-income countries, the potential of mobile to support the achievement of health priorities is an area of active exploration and engagement. According to a 2011 World Health Organization report,…
Category: Uncategorized
Medical lab loses thousands of B.C. patient records
The Canadian Press reports: The personal information of about 16,000 patients of a medical lab service in Kamloops has gone missing, says the company’s president. LifeLabs president Sue Paish said Monday a computer was sent to their main office in Burnaby for servicing in January, but when it was returned, the hard drive was missing….
NZ: Woman posted wrong patient's medical records
It seemed to be “just another” case where a district health board made a mailing error and sent a patient’s records to the wrong party. But the response of the privacy commissioner disturbed me somewhat. The West Coast District Health Board has apologised after it posted two pages of a woman’s private medical records to…
Did Auckland District Health Board overreact to privacy breach?
In the U.S., we expect entities to take strong and effective action to address employee snooping or improper sharing of patient confidential information. But a professional group in New Zealand is not happy with the Auckland District Health Board’s response to a breach previously reported on this blog involving a patient who sought emergency treatment…
Police Agencies Are Assembling Records of DNA
Joseph Goldstein reports: Slowly, and largely under the radar, a growing number of local law enforcement agencies across the country have moved into what had previously been the domain of the F.B.I. and state crime labs — amassing their own DNA databases of potential suspects, some collected with the donors’ knowledge, and some without it….
EPIC Urges Federal Health Agency to Safeguard Mental Health Records
From EPIC.org: In comments to the Department of Health and Human Services, EPIC underscored the importance of medical privacy, particularly concerning mental illness. In response to President Obama’s plan to reduce gun violence, the federal agency is considering allowing states to report certain mental illness information to the FBI for inclusion in National Instant Criminal Background Check System. EPIC warned that…