March 11, 2013 Rajiv Leventhal
news
The University of Connecticut Health Center has acknowledged that a former employee inappropriately accessed records of approximately 1,400 patients, which included names, addresses, dates of birth, and in some cases, Social Security numbers. The Health Center became aware of the privacy breach on January 7, 2013.
February 26, 2013 Gabriel Perna
article
In this Healthcare Informatics podcast, Associate Editor Gabriel Perna speaks with Rob Faix, a principal at the Naperville, Ill.-based consulting firm, Impact Advisors. Faix discusses the healthcare data breach problem, and why this issue is increasingly coming to light.
February 20, 2013 Mac McMillan
blog
Lately I’ve seen an uptick in the number of articles and posts wanting to blame or point the finger at workforce members for the breach activity we continue to see plague healthcare. Statements like, we need to focus more on the workforce or workforce training needs to be enhanced. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that a fair amount of the responsibility does not lie with workforce members, but I would suggest that they are a symptom or the manifestation of the problem.
February 19, 2013 Jeff Smith, Assistant Director of Advocacy at CHIME
article
In developing a regulatory safety framework pertaining to health IT HHS should establish an oversight framework that is administered by a combination of existing private sectors standards and accreditation/certification bodies, Patient Safety Organizations, and federal agencies such as AHRQ and ONC.
February 15, 2013 Gabriel Perna
news
Froedtert Health, a three-hospital health system based in Milwaukee, announced a data breach, reporting that one of its employee’s computer account was hacked. The breach, according to a report from the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, may have affected more than 40,000 patients, although the health system says it found no evidence that any personal information or medical records were accessed.
February 14, 2013 Rajiv Leventhal
news
According to a report from Carpinteria, Calif.-based Redspin Inc., a provider of IT security assessments, the number of large-scale health data breaches increased from 2011 to 2012, but the number of patients affected by such breaches decreased last year.
February 5, 2013 David Raths
blog
Analysts, attorneys and regulators weigh in on the impact of changes regarding privacy, breach notification, and business associate agreements
January 30, 2013 Rajiv Leventhal
news
The operator of Cbr Systems, Inc., a cord blood bank based in San Bruno, Calif., agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that it failed to protect the security of customers’ personal information, and that its inadequate security practices contributed to a breach that exposed Social Security numbers and credit and debit card numbers of nearly 300,000 consumers.
January 24, 2013 Gabriel Perna
news
For the second time within a year, the Utah Department of Health (UDOH) is dealing with a data breach of Medicaid patient information. This time, a third-party contract lost a USB device that contained the personal information, including name, Medicaid ID number, age, and prescription drug history, of 6,000 Medicaid patients.
January 23, 2013 Rajiv Leventhal
news
Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford and the Stanford University School of Medicine are notifying approximately 57,000 patients by mail that a password-protected laptop computer containing limited medical information on pediatric patients was stolen from a physician’s car away from campus on Jan. 9.
January 18, 2013 David Raths
blog
In its HIPAA final rue, HHS chose to drop the harm standard that a breach does not occur unless the disclosure poses "a significant risk of financial, reputational, or other harm to an individual." Instead, a breach notification is necessary in all situations except those in which the provider demonstrates that there is a low probability that the protected health information has been compromised.
January 17, 2013 Gabriel Perna
news
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released an update to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), aiming to better protect patient privacy and safeguard patients' health information in the digital age, according to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
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