Abstract: This chapter seeks to identify some of the reasons why “privacy” remains so contentious. Here I suggest several possible answers ranging from “micro” issues such as what we understand by health privacy to more “macro” and operational issues as we seek to protect health information. First, lawyers have made consistent errors in the terminology…
Search Results for: HCA
Article: Assessing the Status of Medical Information in the Light of the UK Data Protection Act 1998
Abstract: This paper will consider the current privacy laws as applied to healthcare in the UK, taking into account the UK Data Protection Act 1998, which implements the European Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC. Whilst the data protection laws in the UK deals with the overall protection of an individual’s personal information, there are certain…
Tally of improperly accessed UCLA patient records tops 1,000
Rong-Gong Lin II reports: The number of patients whose hospital records were improperly accessed by employees at the UCLA Hospital System has topped 1,000, state officials said Wednesday. Kathleen Billingsley, director of the California Department of Public Health’s Center for Healthcare Quality, said the records of 1,041 patients have been breached, up from 939 in…
Insider theft suspected as CIGNA reports theft of member data
On September 23rd, CIGNA HealthCare informed the Maryland Attorney General’s Office that it had been notified by law enforcement that an individual had stolen some residents’ personal information and used it to file fraudulent tax returns in another state. The individual, who was arrested and charged, is the brother of a former CIGNA employee who…
ONC tackles medical identity theft
Diana Manos reports: Leaders and stakeholders gathered this week to discuss medical identity theft and how the federal government could lead a campaign to prevent it. In a town hall meeting sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), experts explained how statistics are scarce…
Landmark 20-year study to assess impact of personal genetic testing
A consortium of US healthcare, technology and research leaders have joined forces in a first-of-its-kind research study to assess the behavioural impact of personal genetic testing on people who choose to receive such screenings to identify their potential risk for developing certain diseases. Sponsored by the US Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI), the study aims…