Parija Kavilanz reports: There’s a group of people who really love the U.S. health care system — the fraudsters, scammers and organized criminal gangs who are bilking the system of as much as $100 billion a year. Health care identity theft dominated all other crimes in the sector last year, according to Louis Saccoccio, executive…
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On Managing Your Own Health Records
By Doug Pollack, Chief Marketing Officer for ID Experts One of the panels at the Consumer Electronics Show Digital Health Summit is asking a really interesting question: Who will you trust with your health data? As described in an article in Healthcare IT News on healthcare data privacy and security, there have been numerous data…
Time for full and frank data disclosure (opinion)
From an editorial in New Scientist: DNA profiling technology has improved by leaps and bounds since its potential was first glimpsed by geneticist Alec Jeffreys in 1984. But as DNA databases grow, so does the risk that coincidental matches will lead to false convictions. This week we report on the publication of a letter in…
Does HITECH necessitate a change in your Notice of Privacy Practices?
Attorney Jeff Drummond blogs: Changing your NoPP? As you know, the original Privacy Rule requried covered entities to adopt a “Notice of Privacy Practices” to tell patients (or beneficiaries if you’re a health plan) how they plan to use and disclose the individuals’ PHI. You get this sheet each time you go to a doctor…
Balancing medical privacy and criminal prosecution
If HIPAA is violated, can any evidence obtained be used against you in a criminal proceeding? According to a case in Maryland: yes. John Wesley Hall Jr. of FourthAmendment.com writes: Defendant’s BAC [blood alcohol level] level for DUI [driving under the influence] was obtained in violation of HIPAA since a trial subpoena was issued by…
UK: Home secretary: ID register contains NI numbers
Home secretary Alan Johnson has confirmed that the National Identity Register contains National Insurance numbers and answers to ‘shared secrets’. In a revelation that is likely to intensify the arguments over the privacy implications of the database, Johnson claimed the NI numbers have been included to “aid identity verification checks for identity cards and, in…