John Cangiglia reports: An employee of University Hospitals improperly accessed medical and personal information of 692 patients over a three-year period, the hospital system said Friday. The employee, who has been dismissed, breached the hospital system’s electronic medical records, allowing the person to gain names, home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, medical and health-insurance account numbers and…
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Visionworks files second breach report with HHS
It looks like Texas-headquartered Visionworks Inc. may have reported a second breach to HHS. Readers may recall that earlier this month, Visionworks issued a statement about a breach affecting 75,000 patients. That involved a server reportedly lost in June during an upgrade. But now it seems the Highmark subsidiary has also reported a breach involving theft of data (or a server itself) that…
Ca: Lakeridge Health reports 578 patient records inappropriately accessed
Reka Szekely reports: Lakeridge Health has notified 578 people this week that their hospital records were inappropriately accessed. Hospital officials say 14 staff members who provide mental health services have been disciplined over the privacy breach, which occurred during a 10-year period between December 2004 and summer 2014. Read more on Northumberland News.
Two computers stolen from unlocked hospital offices: Orange Village police blotter
Thomas Jewell reports: Grand theft from building, Orange Place: Police made two trips to University Hospitals’ Chagrin Highlands Medical Center after two exterior doors on office suites were discovered unlocked on the morning of Nov. 22. The first desktop computer, an HP 8200 valued at $1,000, was discovered missing that morning from Suite 4200. Then on…
Researchers seek medical data use without patient permission
Joseph Conn reports: The American Medical Informatics Association is asking Congress to amend a central federal healthcare privacy rule, in order to give medical researchers access to patient records without their consent. A see-saw battle has been waged at the federal policy level for more than a decade over patient consent regarding medical records, with…
Ca: ‘Curiosity’ of Island Health employees led to privacy breach, probe reveals
Cindy E. Harnett reports: An Island Health investigation has confirmed a privacy breach when two employees viewed the confidential electronic health records of 112 people to satisfy their personal curiosity. In a statement Wednesday, Island Health said it has confirmed the employees “used their access privileges to the electronic health record for unauthorized reasons —…