Phoenix Cardiac Surgery, P.C., of Phoenix and Prescott, Arizona, has agreed to pay the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) a $100,000 settlement and take corrective action to implement policies and procedures to safeguard the protected health information of its patients. The settlement with the physician practice follows an extensive investigation by the…
Category: Uncategorized
Save 10% on prescriptions, lose 75% on privacy? (updated)
It started with a private message I received on Twitter, asking me what I knew about the privacy policies of prescription discount services. The message provided a link to Medication Discount Card, a site that offers a free prescription discount card that advertises it can save you 10 – 75% on your prescription costs if…
New York Moves To Protect Health Data Privacy
Nicole Lewis reports: In the aftermath of criticism from the New York Civil Liberties Union, New York State health officials have taken further steps to tackle patient privacy. Specifically, the New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC), in collaboration with the New York State Department of Health, has established the Statewide Health Information Network of New York…
Mayor’s Attorney Goes After City Attorney’s Office for LAFD Disclosure Policy
Do HIPAA and the California Confidential Medical Information Act bar city emergency services from providing detailed, real-time dispatch information and response times? The Mayor of Los Angeles says they don’t but the city’s attorney seems to think otherwise: An attorney for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ripped into the City Attorney’s Office today over legal advice given…
Bid to halt purging of old medical records
A NSW psychiatrist makes a case for not destroying old psychiatric records – and no, his argument isn’t solely for research purposes, but clinical. And maybe Hell has frozen over, because you’re about to see me argue for retention, instead of destruction, of old records. Ewa Kretowicz reports: In the past three years, more than…
UK: Dame Fiona Caldicott to review patient data confidentiality
The people currently responsible for protecting the confidentiality of patient information in the UK are known as the Caldicott Guardians, so named after Dame Fiona Caldicott. Dame Fiona will now lead a new independent review into patient privacy. The new review is the result of recommendations from the NHS Future Forum, a group of medical…