Today’s update of HHS’s breach tool includes six breach reports, some of which we knew about already. Two of the incidents had been covered on my companion blog but not reported here as it was not clear that PHI were involved, but it seems that PHI must have been involved: The State of South Carolina Budget…
Baylor Health Care System notifies over 8,000 patients after portable ultrasound machine with PHI is stolen
Baylor Heart and Vascular Center in Texas reports that over 8,000 patients might have been affected by the theft of a portable ultrasound diagnostic machine. The device was stolen from a patient’s room in Baylor’s Jack and Jane Hamilton Heart and Vascular Hospital (BHVH) in Dallas on the evening of December 2 or the early…
Prescriptions and privacy
Kimberly Gray writes: Much has been made in the media of late [such as in The Journal’s Feb. 10 editorial “Mining your pill purchases”] of the concern of protecting privacy in the Information Age, but as we focus on developing the appropriate protocols, regulations and innovative privacy and security strategies, it does no one any…
OH: Envelopes Display Workers’ Social Security Numbers
A mass mailing has made some very private information public. More than 8,000 state child-care providers have had their social security numbers accidentally exposed, 10TV’s Glenn McEntyre reported on Monday. The providers received letters from Affiliated Computer Services, which is a subsidiary of Xerox. The company was hired by the state of Ohio to manage…
Lush web sites in AU and NZ also hacked
Last month, this blog reported that the UK site of Lush cosmetics had been hacked. Three weeks later, Lush customers in Australia and New Zealand are being notified by email that those Lush sites were hacked as well. The breaches occur to be separate hacks and reportedly only affect those who placed orders online. The…
Patient privacy should be respected abroad and online
A news release from the University of Florida serves as a timely reminder: Taking an unauthorized photo of a patient and posting it on Facebook is a giant no-no for health-care providers, who follow strict federal guidelines protecting patient privacy. But what if the patient is a little girl in Ecuador receiving a vaccine from…