Today’s Las Vegas Review-Journal has an editorial about calls for increasing the penalties under HIPAA for snooping in files: […] In the wake of the UCLA scandal, some now want to increase punishments for violating institutions, provide penalties for individual snoopers and force providers to obtain explicit instructions from patients and their families on exactly…
Hospitals often fail to notify patients of data breaches
Jon Brodkin of Network World writes: If your medical records were exposed in a security breach, would you expect the hospital to tell you? You shouldn’t. Because of regulatory loopholes, only 56% of healthcare organizations that have exposed medical records notified the patients involved, survey results issued this month found. “There are loopholes in almost…
'SCAM' GUY HIT 50,000
Douglas Montero and Kati Cornell of the NY Post give us a more precise number and additional detail on the New York-Presbyterian Hospital breach: Dwight McPherson, a 38-year-old patient-admissions representative from Brooklyn, admitted he began to access the files and sell information in early 2006 after being approached by a man in New York working…
Another good idea with the potential for evil?
Richard Pizzi of Healthcare IT News writes: Researchers have created a set of computer programs that use electronic medical records to detect contagious illnesses and automatically report them to public health departments. The new system, called Electronic Medical Record Support for Public Health, or ESP, was described in the April 11 issue of Morbidity and…
California Department of Public Health Cites Three UCLA Facilities for Privacy Breaches
The California Department of Public Health investigated UCLA for recently revealed patient privacy breaches, and cited three UCLA facilities for deficiencies. You can read the CDPH’s reports on UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital and Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA. All are in .pdf format. In response, UCLA Chancellor Gene…
Anne Arundel woman, 33, admits identity theft, fraud
Tyeesha Dixon reports on a case involving medical ID theft: An Anne Arundel County woman pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to fraud and identity theft after using a Garrett County woman’s credit cards and identification to buy jewelry and prescription painkillers in 11 states, according to the office of the U.S. Attorney for Maryland….