From the ACLU of Florida: The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida (ACLUFL) today announced it filed suit in federal court seeking to halt implementation of Florida’s new law mandating drug testing of applicants to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program without suspicion of drug use. The suit, filed Tuesday, September 6, 2011…
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Verizon Adds Mobile Security To Healthcare Cloud
Nicole Lewis reports: Verizon has added healthcare identity standards for accessing electronic health records (EHRs) and health information exchanges, as well as credentials for electronic prescribing and mobile connectivity, to its Verizon Universal Identity Services (UIS)-Healthcare cloud-based service. UIS-Healthcare provides an identity ecosystem for healthcare professionals seeking to securely access and exchange data over robust…
HHS extends comment period on human subjects research proposals
Melissa Bianchi writes: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today extended the public comment period for its new proposed requirements for human subjects research under the Common Rule. HHS’ proposal includes significant new data privacy and security obligations on research entities, including the creation of mandatory data security and information protection standards for all…
Victory for DNA Privacy Rights
Brendon Tavelli writes: On August 25, 2011, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, in a case of first impression, ruled that the state crime lab’s retention of an individual’s DNA sample beyond the limitations promised to him by the police when they took the voluntary sample state a claim for invasion of privacy, and for violation of the…
Law requiring Florida pharmacists to send drug information to state starts Thursday
Dara Kam reports: More than two years after lawmakers created it, a statewide prescription drug database will go live Thursday, sort of. Pharmacists and dispensing practitioners must begin entering data for more than 100 prescription drugs with potential for abuse into the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, or PDMP. But doctors won’t be able to access…
Medical-marijuana patients are in collective denial
David Maass reports: Patient X decides to pursue the simplest path to obtaining medical marijuana. He visits the office of a doctor who specializes in medical-marijuana evaluations. If Patient X can articulate why marijuana would help alleviate his condition, the doctor issues what’s essentially a prescription: a one-page “recommendation.” It costs maybe $30 or $40,…