So you hope your security is up to snuff? Here’s a situation bound to induce headaches…. My firm, Secure Network Technologies, was recently hired by a large healthcare provider to perform a security assessment. As part of the job, my partner, Bob Clary, posed as an employee, similar to the “Seinfeld” episode in which Kramer…
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CDT Issue Brief: Impact of Health Privacy Law Changes in California
From CDT: The California Healthcare Foundation has published a major issue brief by Deven McGraw, director of CDT’s Health Privacy Project, which analyzes the health privacy landscape in California before 2009 and changes made by enactment of recent improvements to both California and federal health privacy laws. As electronic medical records become more widely used…
Do You Know Where Your Data Are?
Bruce Schneier had a pointed article in the Wall Street Journal this week: Do you know what your data did last night? Almost none of more than 27 million people who took the RealAge quiz realized that their personal health data was sold to drug companies, who in turned used that information for targeted e-mail…
State privacy laws may undercut electronic medical records
John Timmer writes in Ars Technica: The US government has now adopted a policy of fostering the adoption of electronic medical records (EMR). The policy is intended to increase the efficiency of the US healthcare system, thereby lowering costs and reducing the incidence of preventable errors. At the same time, through its The Health Insurance…
Lessons not yet learned
For those readers who do not regularly read the companion breach site, DataBreaches.net, there have been five healthcare-related breaches reported in the past seven days. Two of the reports involved paper records and improper disposal. The other three incidents involved theft from business associates or third parties.  In all three of the theft cases, the…
Google Health Accused of Inaccuracy in Electronic Medical Records
Nicholas Kolakowski reports: Google Health, Google’s healthcare IT solution, has been called to task by physicians who say the billing information it uses for some patients’ electronic medical records can give an inaccurate picture of their health condition. Since rolling out in Feb. 2008, Google Health has been aligned to compete against Microsoft’s healthcare IT…