A missing – and most likely stolen – hard drive from the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program at Mt. Sinai Hospital contained e-mails with some some protected health information. The drive was taken from a computer in the Mental Health Center. According to a notification letter (Page 1 Page 2) sent to those…
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OH: Miami Valley Hospital employees breached crash victim’s privacy
Ben Sutherly reports: A Mason man seriously injured in a sensational crash on Interstate 675 that drew national attention received a certified letter Tuesday from Miami Valley Hospital notifying him that four hospital employees had inappropriately accessed his medical records. In a letter dated Oct. 20, hospital Privacy Officer Cindy Howley wrote that employees had…
Will The ICO Make An Example Of Google? (I hope not)
Almost one month ago, the UK’s ICO announced that fines for data breaches were “imminent.” Maybe “imminent” means something different in UK English than in New Yorkese, where we tend to be impatient, but nothing happened. Now Peter Judge of eWeek suggests that, for a variety of reasons, Google might make a good first target….
Transparency is no substitute for informed consent in health records privacy
William Pewen wrote a terrific commentary a few weeks ago. If you didn’t read it, read it now. Here’s a snippet: Unfortunately, the congressional approach to medical records has failed to be a truly patient-centered one. Republicans largely view medical information through a business lens and assert that the marketplace will be self-correcting; many Democrats…
Consent and privacy in HIT, redux
Julie Chang reported on a recent Texas Tribune interview with David Blumenthal, the national coordinator of Health Information Technology. Here’s the section dealing with privacy issues, and it follows on the heels of some great reporting by the Austin Bulldog, covered previously on this blog, that revealed how a lot of patient data is being…
From the frying pan into the fire? When HIPAA and reputation collide
One of the values I find in reading a lot online is that I’ll read something that makes me realize a gap in my own understanding of HIPAA or other issues. In this case, some forum comments and posts made by a doctor raised questions in my mind about whether HIPAA-covered entities fall afoul of…