The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) has agreed to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules. The settlement includes a corrective action plan and a monetary payment of $650,000, which is reflective of the fact that the University operated at a financial loss in…
Category: U.S.
Former Owner of Florida Pharmacy Convicted at Trial of $700,000 Medicare Fraud Scheme
More medical identity theft for fraud: The former owner of a Miami based retail pharmacy was convicted, following a three-day trial, for his participation in a scheme that involved the fraudulent submission of approximately $700,000 dollars in false billing to Medicare. Andres Alfonso, 54, of Miami, was convicted of three substantive counts of health care…
Wentworth-Douglass reports insider breach at business associate, Ambucor (UPDATE5)
First it was Carolina Cardiology Consultants disclosing that 2500 of their patients had been affected by a breach at their business associate, Ambucor. Then it was Lebanon Cardiology Associates, PC (now known as WellSpan Cardiology) notifying HHS that 537 of their patients had been affected by Ambucor’s incident. Now it’s Wentworth-Douglass Hospital notifying 775 of their patients of the breach….
Briar Hill Management notifies 2,000 nursing facilities residents of lost laptop
Notice of Privacy Event at Briar Hill Management Briar Hill Management of Ridgeland, Mississippi provides management services for skilled nursing facilities in the State. The company takes resident privacy very seriously and, as part of that commitment, it is notifying all potentially affected residents of a privacy event that may impact personal health information. On…
IG: IRS Employees Sent Unencrypted Emails Containing Personal Data of Thousands of Taxpayers
Ian Smith reports: A recent report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) found that IRS employees sent unencrypted emails which contained 8,031 different taxpayers’ personally identifiable information. According to the report, TIGTA found 326 unencrypted emails containing taxpayer data. 275 of the emails were sent internally within IRS, while 51 emails were…
Michigan State University confirms data breach of server containing 400,000 student, staff records (Updated)
WXYZ reports: Michigan Sate University is confirming that someone breached a database that contains around 400,000 records containing personal information. The breach happened on November 13. According to MSU, that information “included names, Social Security numbers, MSU identification numbers, and in some cases, date of birth of some current and former students and employees. It…