Jaikumar Vijayan reports: Despite lingering privacy concerns, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is plowing ahead with plans to build a massive centralized database containing detailed healthcare claims information on millions of federal employees and their families. The agency on Wednesday released two formal notices in the Federal Register detailing plans for the new…
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West Texas sheriff convicted of retaliation against nurses who blew the whistle on a doctor
David Lee reports: West Texas sheriff was convicted Tuesday of retaliating against two nurses who complained to the state medical board about a doctor they worked with, who was the sheriff’s friend. Winkler County Sheriff Robert Roberts, 56, was convicted in Midland State Court of retaliation and misuse of official information, both felonies, and official…
Report from first health care privacy conference
Andy Oram writes: Strange that a conference on health privacy has never been held before, so I’m told. Privacy in health care is the first topic raised whenever someone talks about electronic health records–and dominates the discussion from then on–or, on the other hand, is dismissed as an overblown concern not worthy of criticism. But…
Getting IT Right: Protecting Patient Privacy in a Wired World
Happening now – you can watch the webcast at http://www.law.georgetown.edu/webcast/eventDetail.cfm?eventID=1417 (requires QuickTime) Getting IT Right: Protecting Patient Privacy in a Wired World is the first open, public forum to examine and debate the future of health privacy in the digital age and is the official preconference for CFP 2011. Join with experts in health privacy,…
Ontario health records proposal would breach privacy, experts say
From the Canadian Medical Association Journal: The province of Ontario is contemplating the creation of electronic health records that could include a patient’s psycho-social, financial and legal history, a provincial official has indicated. But so comprehensive and sweeping is the proposed database that privacy and legal experts say they are “appalled” and “stunned.” The province’s…
A Russian A.T.M. With an Ear for the Truth
Andrew Kramer had an interesting item in the New York Times this week: Russia’s biggest retail bank is testing a machine that the old K.G.B. might have loved, an A.T.M. with a built-in lie detector intended to prevent consumer credit fraud. Consumers with no previous relationship with the bank could talk to the machine to…