Topic

Patient Data Breach


U of Kentucky breach could affect 2,027 patients

Top Stories | Wednesday, August 25 2010
The University of Kentucky in Lexington is notifying 2,027 people of a breach of protected health information.
 

Data on thousands of Boston-area patients left in landfill

Top Stories | Sunday, August 15 2010
Three Boston-area community hospitals are investigating potential breach of patient confidentiality by an external, independent billing agency, which led to thousands of unshredded patient records being exposed in a landfill.
 

Mass. hospital: Back-up data for 800,000 may be lost

Top Stories | Monday, July 19 2010
South Shore Hospital of South Weymouth, Mass., has reported that back-up computer files for approximately 800,000 individuals that could contain personally identifiable personal, health and financial information may have been lost by a professional data management company.
 

Anthem Blue Cross notifies 470,000 patients of breach

Top Stories | Friday, June 25 2010
Approximately 470,000 insurance applicants are being notified in multiple states by Anthem Blue Cross after recently learning that persons of interest manipulated the payor’s Individual Application Tracker web portal, which allows people applying for insurance to track the status of their insurance applications.
 

U of Louisville exposes patient data on website

Industry News | Monday, June 07 2010
The University of Louisville in Kentucky has notified the public that a database containing personal health information was available online from October 2008 until last month.
 

3M updates software with breach notification tool

New Products | Friday, June 04 2010
3M Health Information Systems has released a breach notification tool available with new versions of 3M ChartRelease software and 3M DisclosureTrac software.
 

Stolen Cincinnati Children’s Hospital laptop had data on 61k patients

Top Stories | Wednesday, June 02 2010
A password-protected laptop computer containing information about 61,027 Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center patients from multiple states and several foreign countries has been stolen.
 

Physician societies file lawsuit on FTC's Red Flags Rule

Industry News | Saturday, May 22 2010
The American Medical Association, American Osteopathic Association and the Medical Society of the District of Columbia have filed a suit in federal court seeking to prevent the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from extending identity theft regulations to physicians.
 

Rep blasts VA over data breaches

Top Stories | Monday, May 17 2010
In the wake of two data breaches of veterans’ health information, Rep. Steven Buyer, R-Ind., ranking Republican on the U.S. House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, sent a stinging letter to Erik K.Shinseki, Secretary of the VA, criticizing the agency’s “continuing material weakness in veterans’ personal information from data breaches.”
 

Potential Ky. data breach reported

Industry News | Wednesday, May 12 2010
Our Lady of Peace, a 278-bed psychiatric hospital in Louisville, Ky., is notifying 24,600 individuals about a potential patient data breach after a flash drive containing unencrypted patient information went missing April 1.
 

Laptop stolen from mammo suite with data on 5,400 patients

Top Stories | Sunday, May 02 2010
The Medical Center in Bowling Green, Ky., is currently notifying 5,418 patients of a breach of personal protected health information, resulting from the theft of computer equipment from its mammography suite containing information on patients who underwent bone density testing between 1997 and 2009.
 

Report: Data breaches, patient identity thefts still a threat despite new laws

Industry News | Thursday, April 22 2010
Despite new regulations in the HITECH Act, data breaches and medical identity theft remains at critical levels throughout hospitals in the U.S., where 83.6 percent of providers have data breaches every year, according to a report from identity theft prevention contractor Identity Force.
 

OCR proposes to expand PIMS in HITECH Act

Industry News | Friday, April 16 2010
The Office for Civil Right (OCR) in the Department of Health and Human Services, in accordance with the Privacy Act, has proposed to modify the Program Information Management System (PIMS), regarding its use of data from organizations concerning breaches of protected health information.
 

Nearly 1 million now identified in Tenn. BlueCross hard drive theft

Top Stories | Monday, April 12 2010
As of April 2, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee had identified 998,422 current and former members whose personal information was included in the theft of 57 hard drives in October 2009 at the payor’s Eastgate location.
 

HIMSS: More hospital security breaches in 2010, but greater awareness

Industry News | Wednesday, April 07 2010
The number of healthcare facilities that reported a breach in security that requires notification increased 6 percent from 13 percent in 2008 to 19 percent in 2010, according to the 2010 HIMSS Analytics report on the security of patient data, commissioned by Kroll Fraud Solutions.
 

John Muir Health informs nearly 5.5K patients about breach

Top Stories | Wednesday, April 07 2010
John Muir Health began notifying 5,450 patients by mail about a potential breach of their personal and health information on April 5. The notification follows the theft of two laptop computers at the John Muir Physician Network perinatal office in Walnut Creek, Calif., in February.
 

Radiologist breaches data, images of nearly 1,000 patients via PACS

Top Stories | Wednesday, March 31 2010
Griffin Hospital has notified 957 patients of an apparent breach of personal protected health information during the period from Feb. 4 to March 5, after an investigation prompted by patient inquiries revealed the breach.
 

HHS: About 60K patients affected by data breaches in 2010

Industry News | Monday, March 29 2010
The Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services has identified 12 organizations in 2010 on its web site listing HIPAA-covered entities and their business associates that have reported breaches of unsecured protected health information affecting 500 or more individuals.
 

HHS publicly posts list of data breach notifications

Top Stories | Thursday, February 25 2010
A list of the covered entities that have reported health information data breaches impacting more than 500 people now has been posted by the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on its Web site.
 

Report: Data breach costs steadily rising

Industry News | Thursday, January 28 2010
U.S. organizations continue to experience increased costs from data breaches, according to a recent study from the consulting firm Ponemon Institute. The average organizational cost of a data breach increased nearly 2 percent, from $6.65 million in 2008 to $6.75 million in 2009.
 
Web Exclusives

Feature: U.S. needs national strategy to curb imaging overutilization

Medical imaging overutilization--a growing concern in the U.S.--exposes patients to unnecessary radiation, while also adding to rising healthcare costs, according to a study published online Aug. 24 in Radiology. In an interview, William R. Hendee, PhD, lead author, reviewed various methods by which medical imaging could be curtailed.

Radiology: Prelim study shows CE breast CT outperforms CT, mammo

Dedicated contrast-enhanced (CE) breast CT delivered significantly improved conspicuity of malignant breast lesions, including ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), compared with unenhanced breast CT and mammography, according to a study published in the September issue of Radiology.

Radiology: Rad role may evolve as image-guided biopsies trend up

CT, ultrasound and MRI have helped shift biopsy techniques away from more invasive approaches toward image-guided percutaneous techniques, according to a study published in the September issue of Radiology. The trend toward less-invasive approaches translates into enhanced safety and efficiency and could lead to more interaction between patients and radiologists.

CMS Webinar: Incentive payments to offset EHR adoption, not reimburse

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) EHR incentive payments are not considered reimbursement for money expended on EHR technology, but are intended to offset the cost associated with adoption and ongoing meaningful use, according to CMS during an Aug. 12 webinar.

CMS webinar: Eligible professionals can expect EHR incentives in 2011

Funding incentives for EHR use is the main goal of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) meaningful use initiative, and there are incentive programs for both hospitals and eligible professionals, according to Elizabeth Holland, health insurance specialist at the Department of Health and Human Services, who spoke during a CMS-sponsored webinar Aug. 8.

Webinar: Stage 1 of meaningful use is for quality reporting acclimation

Stage 1 requirements for meaningful use incentives aim to strike a balance between the overall goal of EHR use and widespread adoption, while avoiding added work, said Jonathan Teich, MD, PhD, chief medical informatics officer at Elsevier Health Services, during a HIMSS webinar titled “Meaningful Use: Safety and Quality of Care.”

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