Roy Mark reports: Two key chairmen of U.S. House committees Oct. 1 urged HHS (Health and Human Services) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to revise or appeal the agency’s controversial “harm standard” that would trigger a personal health record data breach notification. Under the current rules, companies that secure health information using encryption or destruction, no breach…
Soldiers’ Data Still Being Downloaded Overseas, Firm Says
Ellen Nakashima reports: The personal data of tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers — including those in the Special Forces — continue to be downloaded by unauthorized computer users in countries such as China and Pakistan, despite Army assurances that it would try to fix the problem, according to a private firm that monitors cybersecurity….
CA: Privacy at issue in marijuana regulation
Phillip Zonkel reports: A controversial item that critics have said would violate medical marijuana patients’ privacy rights is part of a proposal under review by the City Council, which would regulate medical marijuana dispensaries. The proposal was discussed Monday by the City Council’s Economic Development and Finance Committee, but the item was not addressed. The…
Better safe than sorry: Express Scripts should notify everyone
Almost a year after it was contacted by an extortionist, pharmacy benefits management company Express Scripts first learned that the extortionist was in possession of at least 700,000 more members’ personal information than they originally knew about. The company has now notified those individuals, but how many other members may also be affected? It’s time…
3 accused of stealing diners’ credit card IDs
Robert Moran reports: Three Philadelphia men were indicted yesterday on charges of illegally using the credit and debit cards of customers of two city restaurants by recruiting servers and other workers to steal their account information and then using it to create false – but functioning – cards. According to the federal grand jury indictment,…
Early detection through trending can save thousands of lives
Lucas Mearian reports: Mining electronic patient data to discover health trends and automate life-saving health alerts for patients and their doctors will be the greatest benefit of electronic medical records (EMR), but a survey released today finds a lack of standards, privacy concerns by hospitals and patients and technology limitations is holding back progress. Hundreds…