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A co-conspirator who pleaded guilty in August 2012 to the 881-patient data breach that occurred more than two years ago at the Troy Regional Medical Center in Alabama was sentenced to 10 years in prison this week. The employee was Rhashema more »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Office for Civil Rights (OCR) are working on a new HIPAA project for a population segment that needs to be reminded of its patient rights. HHS and OCR announced the more »
In light of news this week that Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had released a resolution agreement for Idaho State University’s (ISU) 2011 health data breach, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) comments on HIPAA/HITECH compliance at the 6th Annual more »
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a resolution agreement yesterday for Idaho State University’s (ISU) HIPAA violations that date back to Aug. 9, 2011. Because ISU’s Pocatello Family Medicine Clinic exposed 17,500 patients’ data by disabling a firewall more »
The State of California Office of Health Information Integrity (CalOHII) is taking a unique approach to educating covered healthcare organizations and providers in the state about matters of patient consent and authorization for health information exchange. Dubbed the HIE Consent more »
There is more patient data exposure news from Buffalo, NY, as following the recent health data breach at DENT Neurologic Institute, the Erie County Comptroller’s office (headed by Stefan I. Mychajliw) reported that paper health records with protected health information more »
News 4 Tucson (KVOA.com) reports that at least eight patients in Tucson, Ariz. have had their medical data compromised after paper health records containing dates of birth, Social Security numbers and health insurance information were found in Tempe, Ariz. A more »
A healthcare chief information officer (CIO) saying that he expects to experience a health data breach is not only unusual, but may produce shock and awe in some parts of the healthcare industry. However, having this type of outlook, regardless more »
After learning of a former employee stealing patient identities, Community Health Med-check in Speedway, Ind. has notified about 180 patients that their data may have been compromised. WISH TV in Indiana reports that the employee (who no longer works at more »
To help prepared HIPAA covered entities for the new omnibus rule coming into effect on Sept. 23, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has planned four free HIPAA omnibus webinars between June 14 more »
Following problems with patient privacy back in January at Louisiana State University LSU Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC) that involved exposed protected health information (PHI), LSUHSC-Shreveport Vice Chancellor Hugh Mighty said that patient privacy policies will be reviewed and revised by more »
While human error is unavoidable from time to time, what healthcare organizations do to minimize the impact of those mistakes with health data goes under the microscope when breaches occur. DENT Neurologic Institute of Amherst, NY recently experienced a data more »
Pitting public health and well-being against patient confidentiality is nothing new in the healthcare industry and won’t die down anytime soon, but the ongoing debate has been magnified of late in Boston. The Boston Public Health Commission recently received criticism more »
Effective in July, CVS drug stores will no longer use patient prescription drug records for the purpose of sending patient pharmaceutical-paid refill notices. The organization’s argument for doing so revolves around new HIPAA omnibus provisions that restrict how third-party organizations more »
There was yet another unencrypted laptop theft in April, as Indiana University Health Arnett, Inc. told 10,300 affected patients of the health data breach via letter on May 10. The laptop was in an employee’s car and may have contained patient more »
Lutheran Social Services of South Central Pennsylvania recently made 7,300 current and former senior residents aware of a data breach that was discovered in March. According to YorkDispatch.com, the root of the issue was a malware program that the organization’s more »
PHIPrivacy.net reports that the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) informed 537 former orthopaedic patients that their protected health information (PHI) had been compromised in a recent data breach. It was a familiar storyline, as a resident physician lost an unencrypted USB more »
The other shoe has dropped following April’s William Jennings Bryan Dorn VA medical center data breach. The VA medical center had notified 7405 veteran patients in early April that an unprotected laptop with their personal information on the device had been stolen more »
Back in mid-April at a Little Rock, Ark. Kmart pharmacy, about 788 customers’ prescription information was compromised when thieves took backup that included patient prescriptions, names, addresses and prescriptions. While the Kmart data breach was by no means unique, how more »
Lakeshore Mental Health Institute of Tennessee has been associated with a strange patient data breach of records that date back to 1995, but the incident doesn’t involve any current patients. That’s because, as WBIR.com reports, the organization ended patient admissions more »
During a recent hearing titled “Does HIPAA help or hinder patient care and public safety?” in front of U.S. House Oversight and Investigation subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee, multiple parents denounced HIPAA for its perceived restrictive language. But more »
Hope Hospice, located in New Braunfels, Texas, has sent out more than 800 patient notifications after an employee sent out sensitive patient data through unsecured email twice since December 2012. The employee sent the recent referral and admission activity reports more »
Javelin Strategy & Research performed an independent study on the impact of healthcare data breaches on patients based on last spring’s Utah Medicaid and Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP) cyber data breach. About 500,000 participants were involved in the March more »
Upstate University Hospital, affiliated with the State University of New York (SUNY) system, told 283 patients recently of a late March data breach involving the theft of a portable electronic device. According to centralny.ynn.com, patient names, date of birth, hospital more »
According to in-house HHS attorney Iliana Peters, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will be offering additional guidance on the HIPAA omnibus rule. Rachel Seeger, Senior Health Information Privacy Outreach Specialist for the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), told more »
