The Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data’s investigation has found the United Christian Hospital has contravened the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance in the loss of a USB flash drive containing patients’ personal data. Releasing the report today, Commissioner Roderick Woo said before using a USB device, hospital staff should first consider whether there is a real…
Ex-St. John's employee asks for reduced bond
Dirk Vanderhart reports: Less than 24 hours after being charged with a host of felonies, a former St. John’s Health System employee appeared before a Greene County Judge this morning to ask for a bond reduction. Scott A. Johnson, a former fitness trainer at St. John’s Health Tracks facility, was charged Monday with 17 counts…
SoCal Hospital Employee Accused of ID Theft, Insurance Fraud
More than 1,000 patients of Cedars-Siani Medical Center may have had personal information taken by a former employee, who allegedly used their identities to defraud insurance companies. A search of the home of James Allen Wilson, 44, turned up the patients’ information, the hospital’s chief financial officer said in a letter to the affected persons…
UK: Missing secret data scandal
A whole bunch of breaches, some of which we never knew about at the time, some involving patient records, some involving employee records. Some of the bigger non-patient ones were reported on PogoWasRight.org at the time and can be found by searching that site. HIGHLY sensitive child protection papers are among scores of documents and…
Health IT certification group to embrace PHR privacy labeling
John Moore reports: The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology intends to incorporate elements of the federal government’s newly announced privacy and security framework as the organization continues work on personal health record certification. The Health and Human Services Department earlier this week issued the framework along with a privacy and security toolkit. The latter…
UK: Doctors fight plans to hand medical records to researchers and private companies
Laura Donnelly reports: The association said the Government was “dancing with the devil” with its proposals to give researchers, which could include commercial organisations, access to a giant computer database of patient records. The Government’s own health information watchdog has also written to ministers to express his concern about the plans, which could see…