Another entity involved in the February smash-and-grab theft of a computer from Systematic Automation, Inc. has been identified: Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital. The stolen computer was recovered and the thief arrested. Airan Scruby writes in the Whittier Daily News: About 5,000 past and current employees at Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital had their private information stolen, officials said…
Panacea or placebo: electronic health records come to the US
Jonathan M. Gitlin writes in Ars Technica: Doctors’ poor handwriting might be a cliché, but being able to accurately read medical records can often be a matter of life and death. The ubiquity of the personal computer has allowed the clinic to enter the digital age, and given that computers excel at managing information, the…
CVS, Texas Settle Over Record Dumping
John Porretto reports for the Associated Press: Caremark Corp. will overhaul its information security system and pay the state of Texas $315,000 to settle a lawsuit that accused the drugstore operator of dumping credit card numbers, medical information and other material from more than 1,000 customers into a garbage container. […] Records allegedly dumped by…
Reaction to NY Times editorial
Jeff Drummond was clearly none too impressed with a recent NY Times‘ editorial. He writes:  […] Let’s Fisk the Times piece: “The National Institutes of Health, which was responsible for safeguarding the data, made things worse by delaying in notifying the patients.” Really? How were things made worse? Was there an improper use that earlier…
Information Security in a Health Care Environment
From the 15th National HIPAA Summit, Walter Padworski’s talk is now online for free viewing.
Safeguarding Private Medical Data
This editorial appeared in the New York Times today: Almost 2,500 patients taking part in a federal medical trial recently had their private health data compromised when a researcher’s laptop computer was stolen. The National Institutes of Health, which was responsible for safeguarding the data, made things worse by delaying in notifying the patients. This…