Nancy Ferris of Government Health IT reports: The American Health Information Community is recommending that the federal government prepare for the day when people will choose to electronically store their genetic makeup so that doctors can match medical treatments to their genes. Scientists are beginning to make connections between patients’ genetic characteristics and responses to…
The ONC-Coordinated Federal Health IT Strategic Plan: 2008-2012
Health & Human Services Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has released its report to speed up the adoption of Health IT while addressing privacy and other concerns: Full Report (PDF) (679KB) Synopsis (PDF) (501KB)
ACLU Urges Congress to Maximize Medical Privacy of Electronic Health Records
The American Civil Liberties Union urges the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health at today’s hearing to develop privacy and security standards at the same time the health care industry converts from paper to electronic patient records. The ACLU warns that without real patient controls and compensation for misused data, American medical records are…
UK: Stolen tapes contain sensitive data on Hampshire workers
Simon Carr reports in the Southern Daily Echo: Confidential tapes containing the personal and medical details of thousands of staff from Hampshire firms. The tapes contained highly sensitive information including details ranging from illnesses to home addresses. Thieves targeted a security van while it was transporting the tapes between offices to be backed up. The…
In the House of Representatives this morning
The Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health meets this morning at 10:00 am Eastern to discuss a draft health information technology bill proposed by Congressmen Dingel and Barton. You can watch it here (opens in new window).
UnitedHealthcare data breach leads to ID theft at UC Irvine
Robert McMillan reports in ComputerWorld: A data breach at United Healthcare Services Inc. has led to a rash of identity-theft crimes at the University of California, Irvine. To date, 155 graduate and medical students at the school have been hit by the scam, in which criminals file false tax returns in the victim’s name and…