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Healthcare Privacy
      
Date Article Title Publication Author Synopsis
1/23/2012 Should Every Patient Have a Unique ID Number for All Medical Records? Wall Street Journal Michael F. Collins Is it time for every American to be assigned a unique healthcare identification number? 
1/17/2012 Professionalism of your hospital's info security staff vital to data protection Fierce Healthcare Ken Terry Ali Pabrai, a California-based health IT consultant, recommends that hospital IT departments increase the professionalism of staff assigned to protect and secure data.
1/17/2012 Morgantown man blames WVU for medical record breach  The Record Kyla Asbury A man is suing the West Virginia University Medical Corporation for negligence after an employee accessed his medical records on three separate occasions.
1/16/2012 Hospital use of data breach insurance increases as incidents multiply Fierce Healthcare Ken Terry Healthcare providers are increasingly purchasing cyber insurance.
1/14/2012 Digitizing Health Records, Before It Was Cool New York Times Milt Freudenheim A report on Epic Systems and the company's history of digitizing electronic health records. 
1/13/2012 Disclosure Report Could Reveal HIPAA Breaches Health Leaders Media Greg Freeman A proposed amendment to the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) would require that, upon request, healthcare providers share with patients the documentation of who has electronically accessed their records. 
1/10/2012 Q&A: Farzad Mostashari on Meaningful Use, Privacy Health Leaders Media Dick Tocknell National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Farzad Mostashari discusses his office's plans for the year ahead. 
1/9/2012 2012: Time for Action on Health Privacy iHealthBeat Deven McGraw While many Americans support the use of electronic health records, significant data security concerns remain. 
12/9/2011 Privacy Advocate Frustrated By Inertia Healthcare Info Security Howard Anderson As electronic health records and information exchanges proliferate, privacy and security issues must be addressed in order to improve the quality of healthcare.
12/5/2011 Survey: Many Health Care Organizations Not Ready for HIPAA Audits iHealthBeat Staff A study conducted by HCPro has found only 17 percent of respondents--including health information management directors and compliance officers--say they are prepared for Office for Civil Rights (OCR) HIPAA-compliance audits.
12/2/2011 Apps Can Help You Take A Pill, But Privacy's A Big Question National Public Radio Nancy Shute Medical apps for smartphones are increasingly popular, but they come with risks.
12/1/2011 Healthcare Data In Critical Condition Dark Reading Kelly Jackson Higgins Healthcare data breaches have increased by more than 30 percent and could be costing the healthcare industry $6.5 billion annually.
11/29/2011 Why Can't Patients See Their EHR Data? Information Week Ken Terry A report on a review in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association that looks at whether patients should have access to their electronic health records (EHRs). 
11/10/2011 Senate Committee Explores HITECH Finalization, Enforcement IAPP Jedidiah Bracy The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law held its second-ever hearing to explore several healthcare privacy issues. 
11/8/2011 OCR Starts HIPAA Privacy Audits Health Data Management Joseph Goedert The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) will begin HIPAA audits on covered entities. 
11/3/2011 Drugmakers Mine Data for Trial Patients Business Week Carol Eisenberg A report on the Partnership to Advance Clinical Electronic Research (PACeR), one of an array of programs created across the U.S. "as medical providers, software vendors and health data businesses seek ways to profit" from electronic health data. 
11/3/2011 ONC To Launch Survey, Educational Effort on EHR Privacy, Security iHealthBeat   The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) is launching campaigns to gather public opinion and educate people about the privacy and security of electronic health records (EHRs) and health information exchanges.
10/31/2011 Physician texting provides quick communication -- and an easy way to violate HIPAA American Medical News Pamela Lewis Dolan U.S. doctors have found it useful to text each other for rapid communication, but those who do may expose themselves to privacy and security violations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
10/31/2011 One person’s “research” may be another’s invasion of privacy Healthcare IT News Jeff Rowe Jeff Rowe writes about balancing patients' privacy with research needs.
10/26/2011 Study Compares U.S., EU Health Care Privacy Laws  newswise.com   A new study comparing U.S. and EU healthcare privacy law has been released by the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech.
10/24/2011 Swift Move on Medicare Data Privacy Highlights Frustrating Health Privacy Delays Elsewhere Center for Democracy & Technology Deven McGraw The new rules adopted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) highlight the need for finalized adoption of the HITECH privacy rules. 
10/19/2011 Physicians take a stand on reuse of health data Healthcare IT News Bernie Monegain The American College of Physicians (ACP) has proposed a privacy rule that would maximize appropriate uses of health data to improve scientific advances while maintaining ethical and privacy standards.
10/6/2011 How Do You Get Patients To E-Consent? Information Week Nicole Lewis In order to support its e-Consent initiative, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology's Office of the Chief Privacy Officer has awarded a $1.2 million contract to software developer APP Design.
10/4/2011 Class-action lawsuit filed against Stanford Palo Alto Online Sue Dremann A law firm has filed a class-action suit against a hospital and its collections service following a data breach. 
10/3/2011 Interview: The New HIPAA Enforcer GovInfo Security Howard Anderson An interview the new director of the Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights (OCR). 
9/29/2011 Data Breach Exposes Millions Of TRICARE Patients KSAT.com   Three healthcare providers have suffered recent data breaches. 
9/27/2011 Nurse faces 51 counts of medical records, ID theft at Boulder Community Hospital Boulder Daily Camera Erica Meltzer A Colorado nurse is facing five counts of identity theft and 46 counts of theft of medical records.
9/26/2011 Federal Health IT Plan: Pros and Cons Gov Info Security Howard Anderson Some experts say the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan "doesn't go far enough in spelling out specific action steps and priorities." 
9/22/2011 Health industry lacks patient data safeguards: poll Reuters Alina Selyukh A survey of the healthcare industry reveals that less than half the companies surveyed are bolstering privacy and security measures to keep up with the growing use of digital technology.
9/21/2011 State Attorneys General Not Acting on Expanded Power To Enforce HIPAA iHealthBeat   Only two state attorneys general have used the powers given to them by Congress to enforce the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). 
9/20/2011 HHS Unveils Personal Health Record Privacy Notice Information Week Nicole Lewis HHS launched its Personal Health Record (PHR) model privacy notice, intended to help consumers understand the privacy policies and data handling practices of PHR products.
9/20/2011 Shift to medical e-records worries majority of Australians with sensitive medical information Australian IT Karen Dearne A report on a survey that reveals more than 80 percent of citizens living in Australia, the U.S. and UK are concerned about the move towards electronic health records. 
9/20/2011 Jay Cline: Are medical-data breaches overreported? ComputerWorld Jay Cline Jay Cline, CIPP, examines whether the required reporting of some medical data breaches is warranted.
9/13/2011 HHS releases final Health IT Strategic plan for 2011-15  Modern Healthcare   The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology at HHS has released the final version of its Federal Health Information Strategic Plan.
9/7/2011 Richard Cowart: HIPAA, now 15, paved way for health data security The Tennessean Dick Cowart In the year of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act's (HIPAA) 15th birthday, The Tennessean looks back on what it calls "one of the most popular healthcare bills of the generation." 
9/2/2011 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services extends comment period for proposal to revise substantially the human research subject protection regulations Lexology Melissa Bianchi The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has extended the deadline to October 26 for comments on the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to the Common Rule, which governs research conducted by federal agencies on human subjects.
8/17/2011 When EHRs Meet Malpractice Suits: New Concerns InformationWeek Neil Versel A report on concerns that the preponderance of electronic health records (EHRs) will increase legal liabilities for healthcare organizations and staff.
8/16/2011 OCR Unveils HIPAA Hotspots HealthLeaders Media Dom Nicastro The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has announced the top areas of interest on its HIPAA privacy and security compliance radar.
8/16/2011 Health industry preparing to mine patient data from monitoring systems The Australian Karen Dearne With the increased use of remote monitoring systems and new digital imaging technology, "tremendous amounts of data" are being generated but not analyzed.
8/12/2011 OCR Data Breach Tally Passes a Milestone HealthLeaders Media Dom Nicastro A report that the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has logged almost one healthcare breach every other day since it began keeping its online list in February 2010. 
8/11/2011 OCR: Walgreens HIPAA Investigation Continues HealthLeaders Media Dom Nicastro The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) investigation into the nation's largest pharmacy chain remains ongoing.
8/8/2011 Cloud Computing Brings Challenges for Health Care Data Storage, Privacy eWeek Brian T. Horowitz IT expert Chris Witt discusses ways healthcare companies should handle moving data to a cloud computing infrastructure. 
8/4/2011 HIPAA violation complaint filed against RMC Anniston Star Patrick McCreless An Office for Civil Rights (OCR) employee has confirmed that the OCR is investigating an anonymous complaint claiming that an Alabama hospital violated HIPAA laws when it sent patient records to a law office. 
8/3/2011 AHA: Drop HIPAA Access Report Provision Health Leaders Media Dom Nicastro The American Hospital Association (AHA) says federal regulators need to "significantly alter" the access report provision in their proposed HIPAA disclosures rule.
7/25/2011 New data privacy and security requirements proposed for human subjects research Hogan Lovells Chronicle of Data Protection Melissa Bianchi The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has published a proposal recommending mandatory data security rules for studies involving personally identifiable data.
7/25/2011 Give Patients Complete Access To Their Data InformationWeek Marianne Kolbasuk McGee, Chris Murphy The biggest factor in revolutionizing the healthcare system will be patients' access to their healthcare data.
7/19/2011 Patient Data: The Crown Jewels Mayo Clinic Christopher Burgess The Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media's Christopher Burgess reviews reported patient data breaches from January to June of this year to show how the various incidents could have been avoided. 
7/11/2011 HIPAA Audit Program Details Emerge GovInfoSecurity Howard Anderson The Department of Health and Human Services announced that it will soon begin its HIPAA compliance audits mandated under the HITECH Act with 150 onsite audits to be conducted by KPMG by the end of 2012.
6/21/2011 Medical identity theft climbs Marketplace Ashley Milne-Tyte The rise in medical identity theft and the affect it has on victims. 
6/20/2011 2 fired at University of Iowa Hospitals for peeking at records Des Moines Register Clark Kauffman A report that a medical assistant has been fired for violating patient privacy after she reported that her colleague was doing just that. 
6/6/2011 A call to do more on privacy Modern Healthcare Joseph Conn The Health and Human Services (HHS) Inspector General's Office recently released a white paper criticizing the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) for not doing enough to protect healthcare. information. 
5/30/2011 Breaches Lead to Push to Protect Medical Data New York Times Milt Freudenheim A report on the data security issues that surround the nation's move towards electronic health records. 
5/25/2011 HIPAA Privacy Rule Accounting of Disclosures under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act Department of Health and Human Services   The Department of Health and Human Services has released its notice of proposed rulemaking on the HIPAA accounting for disclosures rule. 
5/17/2011 Watchdog Hits HHS on Records Security HealthcareInfoSecurity Howard Anderson The Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has released two reports that offer "harsh" critiques of the department's efforts to protect electronic health records.
5/10/2011 Delay of HIPAA privacy, security rules almost over Government Health IT Mary Mosquera The final omnibus rule to strengthen HIPAA privacy and security safeguards will be released before the end of this year.
5/7/2011 Allina fires 32 employees over patient privacy violations KARE 11 News   More than 30 employees of Allina Hospitals and clinics were fired May 5 for HIPPA violations.
5/3/2011 Large Patient Information Breach List Climbs to 265 HealthLeaders Media Dom Nicastro The number of large health data breaches reported to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is now at 265.
5/2/2011 The Increasing Complexity Of Privacy and Security Law Metropolitan Corporate Counsel Kirk J. Nahra Over the course of this year and into the next, we'll continue to see confusion in the healthcare industry when it comes to privacy.
4/28/2011 New Fed Health IT Chief IDs Priorities Gov Info Security Howard Anderson The government needs to ensure and maintain public trust in health information systems and the exchange of their health information as it rolls out electronic health records.
4/25/2011 10.8 Million Affected by Major Breaches Gov Info Security Howard Anderson The Office for Civil Rights' (OCR) list of major healthcare breaches--those affecting at least 500 individuals--has grown to 265 incidents affecting 10.8 million. 
4/18/2011 Glaxo Warns Consumers' Email Addresses, Names Were Compromised Wall Street Journal Jeanne Whalen As a result of the recent Epsilon data breach, GlaxoSmithKlein has warned consumers in a letter that their e-mail addresses and names "were accessed by an unauthorized third party." 
4/18/2011 HHS told to standardize consent, privacy in e-health record exchanges Federal Computer Week Alice Lipowicz A group of healthcare CIOs have said the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department's plan for health IT "doesn't go far enough in standardizing the ways in which patient consent for release of personal health information would be managed." 
4/17/2011 Epsilon Breach : Criminals now know what prescriptions you take CAUCE.org   A spam coalition is warning consumers to be wary of spear-phishing attempts after learning that those who have registered their prescription drug information on certain "product" Web sites may be vulnerable. 
4/13/2011 OCR's McAndrew on HIPAA Enforcement Healthcare Info Security Howard Anderson Office for Civil Rights' Susan McAndrew warns of "consequences" to HIPAA violators saying, "covered entities need to take seriously their obligations to come into full compliance with HIPAA" and that "it's important to cooperate with my office."
4/11/2011 OCR Provides Guidance on HITECH Compliance, Investigation Procedures IAPP Angelique Carson If the $1 million settlement reached by Massachusetts General Hospital and the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is any indication of what's to come, the OCR plans to take healthcare privacy enforcement seriously. 
4/11/2011 Medical privacy, access to records often at odds Chicago Tribune Scott Cannon The safeguards in place to protect health records under HIPAA often prevent efficient access by a patient's doctor or an emergency room physician.
4/5/2011 Millions in privacy violations wake-up the healthcare industry Help Net Security   In the wake of the Department of Health and Human Services' issuing of penalties totaling $5.3 million against two healthcare organizations, Help Net Security compiles expert insight on the implications of this first round of fines. 
4/1/2011 Army suicide prevention efforts raising privacy concerns USA Today Gregg Zoroya Army officials say knowing more about soldiers' mental health will help to prevent suicides, the rates of which doubled after 2004. 
3/25/2011 Oregon regulators say they weren't immediately told of severity of Health Net breach The Oregonian Brent Hunsberger Regulators in Oregon are questioning the time it took for Health Net to notify them of a breach that involved consumers in that state.
3/22/2011 Health Breach Tally Hits 8.3 Million Gov Info Security Howard Anderson The total number of individuals affected by health data breaches since 2009 could surpass 10 million.
3/17/2011 OCR: $5 Million More Needed For HIPAA Enforcement Health Leaders Media Dom Nicastro The Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is taking its role as HIPAA and HITECH enforcer to new levels with recent enforcement actions.
3/14/2011 Jepsen gets involved in data breach Legal Newsline Keith Loria As the Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights prepares for its springtime road show to train state attorneys general on how to file a HIPAA federal civil lawsuit, Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen is asking one health plan for details about a recent breach involving the data of 1.9 million enrollees.
3/10/2011 State AGs to Get HIPAA Lawsuit Training Gov Info Security Howard Anderson The Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights will take to the road this spring, traveling to four cities to offer state attorneys general training on how to file a HIPAA federal civil lawsuit.
3/9/2011 CVS Accused in Suit of Selling Customer Data to Drugmakers Bloomberg Sophia Pearson CVS Caremark Corp. is being sued for allegedly using confidential information to promote pharmaceutical products.
3/2/2011 Healthcare provider prescribes major data-loss prevention program Network World Ellen Messmer New Jersey's Saint Barnabas Health Care System is rolling out a "major data loss prevention initiative that will enforce new content-control restrictions" on more than 10,000 computers used by the system's staff.
3/1/2011 OMB reviews information disclosure changes to HIPAA privacy rule Infosecurity   A report on the Office of Management and Budget's review of a Health and Human Services (HHS) proposal to extend the HIPAA privacy rule's requirements to "include disclosures during the previous three years for treatment, payment and healthcare operations (TPO) if a healthcare provider uses an electronic health records (EHR) system."
2/27/2011 Don't view HIPAA fines as cost a of doing business Fierce CIO Caron Carlson Caron Carlson points to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' $4.3 million fine against Cignet for HIPAA privacy violations and a Massachusetts General Hospital $1 million settlement in a HIPAA privacy case as indicative of the high costs of not adhering to privacy regulations. 
2/23/2011 Advocates, Experts: Message of OCR’s First Civil Monetary Penalty Sends Message IAPP Jennifer Saunders Privacy experts and patient rights advocates are hailing a decision by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to impose a civil monetary penalty of $4.3 million against Maryland-based Cignet Health for violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. 
2/22/2011 Patient Privacy Rights Extend Beyond U.S. Borders, Ethicists Say Health Leaders Media John Commins It is a breach of ethics to post pictures of medical patients receiving treatment outside of the U.S., even if HIPAA laws don't extend that far. 
2/21/2011 New Deloitte Report Examines Potential Risks of Privacy and Security Breaches of Personal Health Data Provides Guidance about Preparedness for Health Care Organizations as Health Reform Spurs Increased Electronic Exchange of Health Information CNBC   A new study examines the potential privacy and security risks of healthcare information as the move toward electronic health records (EHRs) continues. 
2/21/2011 OCR Plans to Tighten Up HITECH Privacy, Security, Breach Regs Health Data Management Greg Gillespie Financial penalties for single privacy and security violations will be increased to $50,000 per violation with a maximum fine of $1.5 million under final HITECH privacy, security and breach notification rules.
2/14/2011 Healthcare Social Media Sites Neglect Privacy Protections Information Week Nicole Lewis A recent study of 10 medical condition-focused social networks revealed that privacy policies "significantly varied." 
2/14/2011 Oklahoma Breach Hits 84,000 Health Data Management Joseph Goedert Two U.S. health plans are providing credit protection to patients and employees after data breaches potentially exposed Social Security numbers (SSNs) and other personal details. 
2/11/2011 Civil rights office seeks review of privacy rule  Modern Healthcare   The Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is asking the White House Office of Management and Budget to review its new privacy rule that will provide "an expanded requirement that healthcare providers track and be able to report to patients any disclosures of their medical records." 
2/8/2011 Most Americans favor electronic medical records: study Reuters Bernd Debusmann Jr. Despite privacy concerns, researchers from the University of Chicago have found that most Americans surveyed support a move to electronic health records (EHRs). 
2/4/2011 FTC Offers Businesses Tips for Dealing with Medical Identity Theft Federal Trade Commission   The FTC has released information for healthcare providers and health insurers about how to help patients minimize the risk of medical identity theft and deal with the consequences if it occurs. 
2/1/2011 Privacy, Accountability Lead Health IT Concerns Information Week Nicole Lewis Doctors and patients agree on the way health IT should be used in modern healthcare.
1/31/2011 Your Rx or your privacy Los Angeles Times Editorial An editorial in the Los Angeles Times examines a push by states across the country proposing regulations to govern prescription drug data mining.
1/13/2011 Great Work on Records Snoops Crackdown GovInfo Security Howard Anderson Tucson's University Medical Center deserves accolades for calling attention to an important privacy issue.
1/10/2011 Data breaches may lurk in office copiers and printers amednews.com Pamela Lewis Dolan A report on the privacy concerns related to replacing office printers and photocopiers at medical facilities. 
1/5/2011 Hard-to-Use Software Causing Data Leaks from Confidential Health Records: Dartmouth Study TMCnet.com Ed Silverstein Difficult-to-use software is a key factor when it comes to leaked data from confidential medical records. 
1/3/2011 IRS to begin enforcing new privacy and security standards Boston Globe Andrew Chan In its fiscal 2011 work plan, the Office of the Inspector General revealed that it plans to inspect the privacy and security policies of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as well as the details of the HITECH Act electronic health record incentive program.
12/27/2010 Privacy groups ask FTC to probe drug companies' online practices amednews.com Pamela Lewis Dolan Four privacy groups have filed a complaint asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the online marketing practices of pharmaceutical companies.
12/22/2010 VA reports improper storage of patient data Federal Times Nicole Blake Johnson A report on Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities found in violation of the department's policy that no patient information be stored on systems outside its firewalls. 
12/21/2010 Hospital Privacy, Security Officers Make Their Wish Lists Health Leaders Media Dom Nicastro A report on healthcare practitioners' holiday wishlists that they had more staff, more time to study HIPAA regulations and a year free of data breaches. 
12/17/2010 Goodbye, Mr. FIPPs? Modern Healthcare Joseph Conn Joseph Conn reviews possible paths the Department of Health and Human Services could take to protect patient privacy. 
12/16/2010 Doctors and Facebook: Is there a privacy risk? CNN Georgiann Caruso Doctors with Facebook profiles should be mindful of the privacy settings in order to avoid potential pitfalls with patients.
12/14/2010 CT Department Of Health Accidentally Releases Client Personal Data ctnow.com Kim Velsey The Connecticut Department of Health accidentally sent e-mails containing personal data to an unknown number of recipients. 
12/8/2010 White House calls for standard language for health data exchange  Government Health IT Mary Mosquera A White House report calls for the government to adopt a "universal exchange language that allows for the transfer of relevant pieces of health data while maximizing privacy." 
12/6/2010 Concern raised over health record database Washington Post Aimee Miles The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) plan to launch a research database of federal employees' medical insurance claims is raising concerns among privacy advocates, employee unions and consumer groups.
12/5/2010 Health-record providers take aim at privacy concerns  Modern Healthcare   Personal health record (PHR) providers believe they have a system that is more privacy-focused than federal law covering electronic patient records.
11/29/2010 Privacy Advocates Call for FTC Action Gov Info Security   Four consumer advocacy groups have filed a complaint with the FTC calling for regulations on the marketing of medications and health-related products online.
11/23/2010 Appeals court overturns Rx privacy law  Modern Healthcare Online   The Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York has overturned a Vermont law restricting the use of prescription drug data in the marketing of pharmaceuticals to physicians.
11/22/2010 For Teens, Privacy May Trump Health Care USNews.com   A recent study indicates that for teenagers, healthcare privacy is essential. 
11/15/2010 OPM delays launch of federal health claims database ComputerWorld Jaikumar Vijayan The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has delayed the launch of its health claims database by one month.
11/12/2010 Survey: Most Individuals Want Control of Personal Health Data iHealthBeat   A survey of 2,000 adults has revealed that most individuals want conditions on the sharing and sale of their personal health data.
11/9/2010 More federal health database details coming following privacy alarm ComputerWorld Jaikumar Vijayan In response to privacy concerns, the launch of the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) planned database may be delayed, according to the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT). 
11/9/2010 Identity Theft Reported By 33% Of Healthcare Organizations Information Week Nicole Lewis A Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) survey has found that 33 percent of healthcare organizations have had at least one known case of medical identity theft, but some may never be reported. 
11/8/2010 Data Spills Cost U.S. Hospitals $6 Billion A Year Forbes Andy Greenberg The average per-hospital cost of a data breach is $1 million per year--$6 billion annually for the industry--but the majority of hospitals report they do not have adequate resources to protect patient data loss. 
11/4/2010 Privacy advocates fear massive fed health database Computerworld Jaikumar Vijayan The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) planned database to store personal health information on millions of Americans is troubling some privacy advocates.
11/3/2010 Kirk Nahra Advises Reviewing HIPAA Compliance Efforts in Podcast Interview Weily Rein Kirk Nahra The proposed Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) modification rule is a wake-up call for compliance. 
11/2/2010 ONC wants feedback on PHR privacy, security  Government Health IT Mary Mosquera The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) has opened its public comment period on privacy and security concerns associated with the move to electronic personal health records (PHR).
11/2/2010 Healthcare Providers Reluctant to Embrace Outsourcing Firms for Digital Health Records Initiative tmc.net Beecher Tuttle When it comes to electronic health records, privacy concerns are making the U.S. healthcare industry reluctant to embrace outsourcing.
10/25/2010 HIPAA, HITECH Final Rules Expected by Early 2011 Health Leaders Media Dom Nicastro A top lawyer for Office for Civil Rights says final rules for HIPAA and HITECH could be published by the end of this year or early next year.
10/25/2010 Medical identity theft a more prevalent occurrence Philadelphia Inquirer Jane M. Von Bergen A report on the prevalence of medical identity theft in the U.S. 
10/23/2010 Tuberculosis privacy suit revived in appeal Augusta Chronicle Associated Press A federal appeals court has revived a tuberculosis patient's lawsuit claiming that health officials publicized his condition to make an example of him.
10/18/2010 HHS: Patients should receive easily understood HIE privacy notices Government Health IT Mary Mosquera A Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) advisory panel is recommending that healthcare providers supply patients with easy-to-understand notices of how their information will be used and protected when it is exchanged.
10/6/2010 Electronic medical records: great, but not very private CNN Shelley DuBois A report on widespread concerns about researchers' access to health records under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) as the move to all-digital health records continues. 
10/5/2010 FEHBP database raises privacy concerns Government Executive.com Emily Long A report on privacy advocates' concerns regarding a new Office of Personnel Management database designed to track federal employee health benefit plans. 
10/4/2010 People's Personal Information Up for Bid at Auction wjhg.com Chad Mira Former employees of a shuttered Florida medical facility are questioning what will happen with their personal data now that the Gulf Pines Hospital in Port St. Joe has been auctioned to a buyer in California.
10/4/2010 PHR Privacy Report a Work in Progress Healthcare Info Security Howard Anderson Federal officials expect to present a report on privacy and security requirements for personal health records vendors not covered by HIPAA early in 2011. 
9/30/2010 Privacy Expert To Congress: Mandate More Protections Health Data Management   The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) is calling on congress to further improve the privacy and security of health information.
9/20/2010 Adler discusses data governance IAPP IAPP UnitedHealth Group's Chief Privacy Officer M. Peter Adler, CIPP, talks about the complexities of managing protected health data in today's digital world.
9/20/2010 CT Breaches Lead to Tougher Notification Requirement Health Leaders Media Dom Nicastro A report on the new Connecticut requirement that insurers and their agents inform the state insurance commissioner within five calendar days of discovering a breach. 
9/17/2010 Anthem Blue Cross is sued over data security breach - Insurance applicant Patrick Magorien seeks class action status on behalf of consumers whose personal data were compromised. Los Angeles Times Duke Helfand An applicant for Anthem Blue Cross health insurance has filed a lawsuit claiming the company failed to protect his personal information when it was hacked earlier this year.
9/16/2010 Ex-UPMC Shadyside worker charged with selling patient info Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Staff A former hospital worker has been indicted on charges that he sold patient data.
9/13/2010 California Hospital Appeals Security Breach Fine eSecurity Planet staff A California hospital has appealed a $250,000 fine by the state for a data breach that exposed more than 500 patients' personal information.
9/11/2010 Privacy an issue with access to drug database news-record.com Joe Killian The North Carolina Sheriffs' Association has asked for access to a state prescription drug database.
9/10/2010 Dispute Arises Over Breach Notification Gov Info Security Howard Anderson Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is objecting to a hospital's decision not to send notifications to 800,000 individuals who may have been affected by a recent breach.
9/9/2010 Hospital Fined $250,000 For Not Reporting Data Breach Health Leaders Media Cheryl Clark California Department of Public Health (CDPH) officials have fined Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University $250,000--the maximum amount allowed under state law--for failing to report a breach of 532 patient medical records due to the theft of a hospital computer. 
9/9/2010 Guest commentary: Privacy issues overlooked  Modern Healthcare Online   Latanya Sweeney of Carnegie Mellon University cautions that for the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) to be successful, privacy concerns cannot be overlooked. 
8/19/2010 Panel drafts privacy recommendations for health data exchanges ComputerWorld Jaikumar Vijayan The "tiger team" advising the federal Health IT Policy Committee is expected to submit 19 pages of recommendations today in response to a specific set of privacy-related questions raised by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology for ensuring the privacy and security of personally identifiable health information in health data exchanges. 
8/13/2010 Patients’ files left at public dump Boston Globe Liz Kowalczyk The medical records of thousands of pathology patients from four Massachusetts hospitals were found at a transfer station on July 26.
8/13/2010 Your Great Granddaddy Had Syphilis And Now Everyone Knows It CDT.org Harley Geiger The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) reports on a Department of Health and Human Services proposal to remove health information privacy protections for people who have been dead for 50 years. 
8/9/2010 Facebook post lands worker in hot water Business Insurance   A hospital worker has been fired for posting on her Facebook page information about a patient she treated.
8/5/2010 OCR Confirms Walgreens HIPAA Investigation HealthLeaders Media Dom Nicastro The Office for Civil Rights this week confirmed that it is investigating Walgreens in relation to a four-year-old story involving the improper disposal of personal health information at pharmacy chains including CVS and Rite Aid. 
8/5/2010 Data Breach at Philly Hospital Impacts Thousands eSecurity Planet Larry Barrett A Philadelphia, PA, hospital reported this week that a personal laptop containing the names, social security numbers, birth dates and insurance information of about 21,000 patients was stolen from a hospital office.
8/3/2010 Marty Robins: Electronic Medical Records: Privacy Risks and Opportunities Huffington Post Marty Robins Attorney Marty Robins addresses concerns about the privacy and security of electronic medical records (EMRs). 
7/30/2010 Stolen laptop puts data at risk Houston Chronicle Todd Ackerman Texas Children's Hospital announced that a laptop containing the names, birthdates, diagnoses and dates of service of about 1,600 patients was stolen in May. 
7/23/2010 Georgia Court: Personal medical records are fair game for government snooping Atlanta Journal Constitution Bob Barr The Georgia Supreme Court ruled that personal medical records are no longer considered "private papers" and are not protected from government searches.
7/13/2010 Private Practices Revealed On Patient Breach Website Health Leaders Media Dom Nicastro The Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has unveiled on its breach notification Web site the names of "private practices" that have reported data breaches affecting 500 or more individuals.
7/8/2010 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to Implement HITECH Act Modifications U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Press Release The Department of Health and Human Services has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to modify the HIPAA privacy, security and enforcement rules.
7/6/2010 UPDATE: Health Net Settles Conn. Suit Involving Lost Data Wall Street Journal   Health Net has settled a lawsuit filed by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal in January--the first such suit filed under HIPAA by a state AG--agreeing to pay $250,000 to the state and enact new privacy protection safeguards.
6/29/2010 RI ACLU sues over privacy of electronic medical records The Providence Journal Felice Freyer The Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit against the state's Department of Health, alleging that newly adopted regulations fail to adequately protect patient privacy.
6/28/2010 FBI Investigating Possible DSHS Hacker Texas Tribune Emily Ramshaw The FBI and the Texas Department of State Health Services are looking into whether a hacker broke into the state's confidential cancer registry.
6/28/2010 Policy Committee OKs Privacy, Security Recommendations iHealthBeat   The team of experts working on e-health privacy and security issues approved recommendations to help ensure the protection of data in the online exchange environment.
6/22/2010 Patient sues Jewish Hospital over data breach wave3.com Eric Flack A report on a patient suing a psychiatric hospital after a flash drive containing 24,600 patient files went missing in April. 
6/19/2010 Federal agency investigates porn industry clinic Los Angeles Times Molly Hennessy-Fiske The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has opened an investigation of the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation in response to a formal written complaint.
6/15/2010 State Alliance: Proposed HITECH Regulations Coming in Two Weeks Health Leaders Media Dom Nicastro The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) will release proposed rules on HIPAA-related provisions in HITECH later this month.
6/14/2010 OCR: Patient Data Breaches Nearly Tripled Since February iHealthBeat   The number of entities that have reported major patient information breaches to HHS' Office for Civil Rights (OCR) nearly tripled in four months.
6/8/2010 5 To Be Fired For Social Media Use Gov Info Security   A California hospital will fire five employees and discipline another after it was discovered they posted personal discussions about patients to a social networking site.
6/3/2010 State Investigates Patient Info Shared on Facebook NBC News Eric S. Page California state officials are now investigating Tri-City Medical Center for a possible breach of HIPAA laws involving Facebook. 
5/25/2010 Privacy panel calls for data encryption for information exchange Healthcare IT News Mary Mosquera The Health IT Policy Committee's privacy and security workgroup has recommended that healthcare providers encrypt patient data even in direct exchanges with other providers and in cases not facilitated by third-party organizations.
5/23/2010 Tri-City investigating Facebook privacy issue North Country Times Paul Sisson Officials at a California hospital are investigating a possible breach of patient privacy involving Facebook. 
5/21/2010 Medical Association Objects To EHR Rules Information Week Nicole Lewis The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) believes that expanding HIPAA disclosure requirements is burdensome and will hinder electronic health record (EHR) adoption.
5/21/2010 Lawsuit: Red Flags Rule Violates Doctor/Patient Relationship Health Leaders Media Cheryl Clark The American Medical Association (AMA), American Osteopathic Association and the Medical Society of the District of Columbia have filed a lawsuit against the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for defining physicians as "creditors" under its Red Flags Rule.
5/20/2010 Healthcare Data Risk Greatest From Human Error Information Week Marianne Kolbasuk McGee A report that although technological advancements and laws have made patient data more secure, human error continues to put medical records at risk.
5/18/2010 HHS to study patient perceptions of EHRs HealthImaging.com Editorial Staff The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) plans to conduct a study to address "an evidence gap about patients' preferences and perceptions of delivery of healthcare services by providers who have adopted EHR systems in their practices." 
5/17/2010 Main Culprit In Large Patient Information Breaches: Unencrypted Laptops Health Leaders Media Dom Nicastro A report suggests that providers must start taking privacy regulations seriously and should ensure that portable devices are encrypted in order to better protect patients' personal health information. 
5/17/2010 P2P networks a treasure trove of leaked health care data, study finds ComputerWorld Jaikumar Vijayan A study by Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business shows that eight months after enacting the HITECH Act, organizations are still leaking information through peer-to-peer (P2P) networks.
5/12/2010 OCR Boosting Security Enforcement Health Data Management Joseph Goedert The healthcare industry can soon expect a greater emphasis on enforcing HIPAA.
5/11/2010 A failure to protect medical privacy St. Petersburg Times Editorial A report on recent data breaches involving the healthcare records of Tampa Bay area citizens, which, the editors say, suggest "the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is falling far short of its promise to protect and enforce patient privacy." 
5/10/2010 INVESTIGATION: Medical records discovered in local dumpsters. What's being done about it? ABC News Alan Cohn An investigation in Florida has revealed examples of private medical records that businesses have thrown away unshredded, including lab results, prescriptions, names and addresses. 
5/10/2010 Experts: Train Employees Not To Snoop; Fire Those Who Do Health Leaders Media Dom Nicastro The advent of electronic health records brings new privacy concerns for healthcare facilities, especially in terms of employee snooping.
5/4/2010 Data breach reports now posted online amendnews.com Pamela Lewis Dolan Since the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) began listing healthcare breaches online, 64 incidents affecting well over one million people have been reported. 
5/3/2010 States want to share patient Rx use to curb abuse Associated Press Greg Risling With 34 state online prescription databases currently in effect across the U.S., some doctors and medical professionals want to see that access expanded across state lines to better curb the problem of prescription drug abuse. 
5/3/2010 HHS seeks feedback on stricter EHR disclosure reporting  Government Health IT Mary Mosquera The Department of Health and Human Services wants stakeholders to comment on the process of accounting for disclosure of patients' protected health information contained within electronic health records.
4/27/2010 Former UCLA Healthcare Worker Sentenced to Prison for Snooping NBC News Bill French A former UCLA School of Medicine researcher was sentenced to four months in prison yesterday for illegally viewing the medical files of celebrities and others while employed there. 
4/27/2010 Medical Records Keep Getting Dumped Information Week George Hulme Even with the addition of procedures to better protect patient data, the number of medical record breaches continues to increase--up six percent since 2008. 
4/27/2010 Leaders discuss future of health IT  Modern Healthcare Online   When the Health Information Technology Policy Committee met, health IT implementation issues including privacy, informed consent and patient control were a significant part of the discussion.
4/27/2010 Policymakers explore patient consent triggerpoint  Government Health IT Mary Mosquera The Health IT Policy Committee worked to determine at what point in a health information exchange it becomes necessary for providers to obtain consumer consent.
4/26/2010 HITECH privacy rule to be released next month Government Health IT Mary Mosquera The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is expected to release a proposal next month to strengthen HIPAA privacy and security rules mandated under the HITECH Act. 
4/23/2010 HHS advisory panel considers patient consent Federal Computer Week Alice Lipowicz An advisory group to the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department has begun considering a draft framework describing how health organizations should incorporate patients' consents and consent policies.
4/16/2010 Large Patient Information Breaches Skyrocket Health Leaders Media Dom Nicastro The number of entities reporting large-scale breaches of patient information has doubled since February.
4/13/2010 Survey: Patients May Lie if Electronic Records Are Shared Wall Street Journal Katherine Hobson A survey of 1,850 Americans shows the number who are using digitized personal health records (PHRs) has doubled since 2008.
4/13/2010 OCR Explains Breach Data Uses Health Data Management Joseph Goedert The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the Department of Health and Human Services has published a notice detailing how it will use information from organizations reporting health data breaches.
4/7/2010 Medical Data At Risk Information Week Nicole Lewis Since January 2008, more than 110 healthcare organizations have reported the loss of sensitive patient data affecting more than five million people.
4/1/2010 Privacy concerns surface over ONC data project  Modern Healthcare Online   David Blumenthal of the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology is asserting that the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) is not a "Trojan Horse" to funnel patient data to government agencies.
3/30/2010 Google and Facebook raise new issues for therapists and their clients Washington Post Dana Scarton The Washington Post delves into the ethical and professional questions arising over the online presence of mental health practitioners and their consumption of patients' online data in the course of treatment. 
3/29/2010 A second look at the DEA e-prescribing rule  Government Health IT John Moore The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has unveiled an interim final rule that would make it easier for physicians to e-prescribe controlled substances.
3/23/2010 Your Medical Records Aren't Secure Wall Street Journal Deborah Peel There is already a lack of health record privacy and it will get worse as more records become digitized.
3/22/2010 As health data goes digital, security risks grow ComputerWorld Lucas Mearian The amount of personal medical information online will "increase exponentially" over the next four years.
3/11/2010 Healthcare IT Workgroup Tackles Privacy Information Week Anthony Guerra The Health IT Policy Committee's Strategic Planning Workgroup is debating how to balance privacy concerns with improved healthcare.
3/11/2010 5 hospital workers get jobs back in privacy case Houston Chronicle Chris Moran Five of the 16 hospital employees fired last fall for violating patient privacy have been reinstated.
3/8/2010 EU pushes for healthcare records share with US zdnet.co.uk   U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and her Spanish counterpart, Minister of Health and Social Policy Trinidad Jimenez, met to discuss a proposed digital healthcare data sharing program. 
3/8/2010 Do Family, Friends' Photos Trigger HIPAA Violations? Health Leaders Media John Commins In the wake of a recent case where several hospital employees were disciplined for sharing cell phone photographs of a shark attack victim, medical professionals are questioning whether patient photos by friends and family could trigger HIPAA violations.
3/2/2010 Proposed HITECH Rule for Business Associates Will Come Soon, Says OCR Lawyer Health Leaders Media Dom Nicastro A proposed rule regarding business associate (BA) provisions in the HITECH Act will be released soon.
2/26/2010 Shark Attack Victim Photos Put Hospital Employees in Hot Water Health Leaders Media John Commins Several employees at a Florida hospital have been disciplined after taking cell phone pictures of a shark attack victim who later died. 
2/25/2010 Privacy experts predict what first CPO will face  Modern Healthcare Online   Privacy advocates say the newly appointed ONC chief privacy officer has her work cut out for her. 
2/24/2010 MGH to Pay $1M to Settle 'Potential' HIPAA Violation HealthLeaders Media Charyl Clark A report on a settlement by a Massachusetts-based hospital for alleged HIPAA violations. 
2/22/2010 Feds Tackling Health IT Privacy, Security Issues Information Week Marianne McGee The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has taken two steps to implement privacy and security provisions included in the HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act.
2/18/2010 Hospitals face compliance problems with HITECH Act Washington Technology Alice Lipowicz The privacy and security rules of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) took effect and already providers are reporting compliance difficulties.
2/17/2010 Feds Name Healthcare Chief Privacy Officer Gov Info Security Howard Anderson The HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has its first chief privacy officer. 
2/17/2010 Offshore HIPAA Business Associates Pose Extra PHI Risks, but Have Incentives to Self-Regulate   AIS Health Business Daily   Healthcare providers aiming to cut costs are sending their patients' personal information beyond U.S. borders, but that is not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to privacy protection.
2/12/2010 Obama Awards Money for Electronic Medical Records ABC News Associated Press The Obama administration has committed nearly a billion dollars toward the transition to electronic medical records (EMRs).
2/12/2010 Breach Prevention is Critical as HIPAA Compliance Worlds Collide Health Leaders Media Dom Nicastro With HIPAA, HITECH and the FTC's Red Flags Rule, privacy and security officers are facing a collision of compliance obligations.
2/9/2010 State error leads to security breach San Francisco Chronicle Marisa Lagos State health department officials are advising nearly 50,000 Californians how to protect themselves from identity theft, after employees inadvertently listed Social Security numbers alongside names and addresses in a February mailing.
2/9/2010 New Model BA Agreement Available Health Data Management Joseph Goedert The North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance has released a revised model of its Business Associate Agreement that reflects changes in the HIPAA privacy and security rules under the HITECH Act.
2/8/2010 Group Therapy Time  Bonnie Rochman Patients are talking and the medical community is watching what is being dubbed Patient 2.0, an information-sharing movement that sees patients using the Internet to collaborate on health issues, even if it means sharing private information. 
2/8/2010 Bill would restore patients' rights Fosters.com Adam Krauss New Hampshire lawmakers are scheduled to hear a bill on Tuesday that would give patients more control of their medical records.
2/1/2010 Americans say “NO” to medical database Atlanta Journal Constitution Bob Barr A national medical records database could jeopardize the personal information of more than 300 million Americans.
2/1/2010 Obama Budgets $78 Million For Health IT Information Week Marianne Kolbasuk McGee The proposed Department of Health and Human Services budget for fiscal 2011 includes funding related to health IT's potential impact on privacy.
2/1/2010 Requests For Medical Data Are Questioned Hartford Courent Matthew Sturdevant The Connecticut Insurance Department and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal are investigating a health insurer's requests for patient records.
1/26/2010 Healthcare hacks on the rise Infosecurity   According to managed security firm SecureWorks, incidents of medical information theft in the fourth quarter of 2009 were double the previous three quarters.
1/26/2010 UMC admits to prolonged patient privacy leak Las Vegas Sun Marshall Allan Officials at University Medical Center in Las Vegas admitted yesterday that there was a protracted period of data theft occurring at the hospital and that they only took action after the Las Vegas Sun contacted them about the incident. 
1/25/2010 The Next Health Care Debate: Digital Privacy Forbes Andy Greenberg A new study by the Ponemon Institute suggests that the American public is not comfortable with a government-controlled national healthcare network.
1/21/2010 Doctors fear privacy sold in HealthNet sale News Times Rob Varnon The Connecticut State Medical Society is asking Attorney General Richard Blumenthal to investigate the privacy implications of United Health Group's takeover of HealthNet.
1/19/2010 NIST awards EHR testing contract, ONC seeks to re-identify HIPAA data Fierce Healthcare Neil Versel The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has awarded a $400,000 contract to Booz Allen Hamilton to develop a framework that will be used to test electronic health records (EHRs) for security and interoperability.
1/18/2010 Hospital releases phone numbers for survey The Dickinson Press Lisa Call St. Joseph's Hospital in Dickinson, North Dakota makes a practice of sharing patient names and phone numbers with a Maryland-based survey company, and the hospital says it is legal under HIPAA--and that failing to do so may result in a loss of federal Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement.
1/15/2010 Digital health records: Putting privacy on par with efficiency cnnmoney.com Harriet Pearson IBM's Vice President Security Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer Harriet Pearson cautions that the billions of dollars being spent on the development of a national health information network may be undermined if the network is not built with proper consideration for information security and patient privacy. 
1/14/2010 Patients demand: 'Give us our damned data' CNN Elizabeth Cohen Patients who ask for copies of their medical records, even in cases where emergency care may hang in the balance, are running into reluctance and delays.
1/13/2010 AG files suit in health data privacy breach TheDay.com Patrisha Daddona Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed a suit against health insurer Health Net of Connecticut alleging negligence in a data breach that affected nearly 450,000 residents.
1/13/2010 ITRC Report: Malicious Attacks Are Now More Frequent Than Human Error Dark Reading Tim Wilson In its annual report on data breaches The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) says that 2009 marks the first time that malicious attacks have moved beyond human error as the leading cause of data breach.
1/12/2010 Getting the word on STDs online MedIll Reports Chicago Anne Boyd A Chicago company has launched a new online service that uses the anonymity of the Internet to help individuals test for sexually transmitted diseases, but the service is also raising questions from some about the security of such sensitive information online. 
1/12/2010 How Ready Are Hospitals for Meaningful Use? Health Leaders Media Carrie Vaughan The healthcare industry is sending mixed signals about its technical readiness to qualify for federal incentive payments under the HITECH Act.
1/8/2010 Former UCLA Health Worker Pleads Guilty To Accessing Celebrities' Medical Records LA Weekly Dennis Romero Federal authorities announced on Friday that former UCLA Healthcare System employee Huping Zhou admitted to accessing the hospital's system to snoop through the medical records of celebrity patients at the facility.
1/6/2010 Delaware crime: Trash-picking identity theft targets pharmacy customers DelawareOnline Esteban Parra and Terri Sanginiti Police in Delaware have issued a warning to citizens to be careful about what they throw away after leaving the pharmacy.
1/5/2010 HHS wants contractor to test privacy of 'anonymous' data Washington Technology Alice Lipowicz The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) plans to hire a contractor to test whether de-identified data--records stripped of information tying it to specific individuals--can truly protect the privacy of individuals.
1/4/2010 Health care provider sued over privacy issue Chicago Tribune Associated Press Patients of Aurora Health Care Inc. want their medical information removed from debtors' files and are seeking $25,000 in damages for each patient whose information was disclosed.
12/23/2009 Mayo CEO fires two for privacy violation postbulletin.com Jeff Hansel The head of the Mayo Clinic has fired two employees who violated privacy policies.
12/21/2009 Woman out of a job after sending tweet to Governor Barbour wblt.com Julie Straw A Mississippi woman resigned from her job at University Medical Center (UMC) after hospital officials accused her of violating HIPAA laws.
12/18/2009 Studies: Docs like electronic health records but privacy a concern USA Today Robert Preidt The results of two studies published in the January issue of the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association that show U.S. physicians like the idea of electronic medical records, but have concerns about the privacy implications.
12/14/2009 A prescription for snooping Los Angeles Times Andrew Zajac Rules that allow pharmaceutical companies to review details of what prescriptions doctors write are coming under increasing criticism, and three states have written laws to prohibit the practice.
12/14/2009 Genetic Privacy Raises Questions About Insurers San Diego Business Journal Heather Chambers The federal Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) took effect, making it illegal for employers and health insurers to discriminate based on genetic predispositions. 
12/13/2009 Good news for UMC: Privacy violations seldom punished Las Vegas Sun Steve Kanigher In spite of recent revelations that confidential patient information has been intentionally leaked from University Medical Center (UMC) in Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Sun reports that the chances are slim there will be any action taken by federal regulators. 
12/9/2009 Two Data Security Breaches Give State Attorneys General a Chance to Exercise Their New HIPAA Powers   AIS Health Business Daily   Attorneys general (AG) in Connecticut and Arizona may test the limits of HIPAA's beefed up healthcare data breach provisions found in the HITECH Act thanks to unauthorized medical data disclosures in those states. 
12/9/2009 UMC chief: Leak of patient information a ‘serious situation’ Las Vegas Sun Marshall Allan Private patient information has been leaking from University Medical Center in Las Vegas, NV, and the state legislature wants to know how. 
12/8/2009 ONC names privacy, security workgroup members  Government Health IT Mary Mosquera A report that the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has named 17 members to the Health Policy IT Committee's privacy and security workgroup.
12/8/2009 Security, privacy breaches plague healthcare in '09  Modern Healthcare Online   The final quarter of 2009 has started out ignominiously with a number of significant data breaches striking the healthcare industry. 
12/4/2009 AG reviewing WDH patient records breach Fosters.com Adam Krauss The New Hampshire Attorney General's office is looking into a breach of the health records of more than 1,100 patients.
12/1/2009 ONC reorganizes for push on EHR, HITECH goals Government Health IT Mary Mosquera The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) will gain a chief privacy officer (CPO) as part of a reorganization effort.
11/25/2009 Hospital district fires 16 over privacy violation Houston Chronicle Chris Moran Sixteen employees have been fired from a Houston hospital for violating patient privacy.
11/23/2009 AMA meeting: Better data protection needed from Blues amednews.com Damon Adams The American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates has adopted a new policy in the wake of the BlueCross BlueShield Association data breach that exposed the confidential information of 850,000 physicians.
11/23/2009 Groups Target CVS Caremark, Seek Privacy Violation Probe Wall Street Journal   Consumer advocates and a national pharmacists' group have asked the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate CVS Caremark Corp for potential health privacy violations.
11/23/2009 Senate health care bill: the five paragraphs you must read Christian Science Monitor Sue Blevins Two health freedom and privacy advocates say with the Senate healthcare reform bill, Congress is opening the door for patient privacy wrongs to be committed and that five paragraphs in the 2,074-page legislation detail "highly invasive provisions" Americans should know. 
11/20/2009 Woman Sentenced For Stealing Patients' Info 13 WJZ News Associtated Press A former Johns Hopkins Medicine employee has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing patient. information
11/19/2009 Digital Medical Records' Privacy a Problem The Early Show - CBS News   The Early Show on CBS explores patient privacy and electronic medical records for its "Somebody's Watching You" series. 
11/13/2009 Health Industry Winning Round On Privacy of Digital Health Records The Huffington Post Emma Schwartz Privacy interests and House members who wrote the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) criticized the Department of Health and Human Services for adding a "harm threshold" provision to its interim final rule on healthcare breach notifications in August, saying that it violated the intent of ARRA's notification requirement and weakened patient privacy.
11/10/2009 Gartner: Reforms, Privacy Are Key Healthcare IT Issues Channel Web Joseph Kovar At a healthcare event in California, Gartner analysts said that healthcare reform and privacy are having a big impact on the information technology market.
11/2/2009 E-Health Privacy Regulations Draw Congressional Fire Healthcare IT News Mitch Wagner With some members of Congress expressing displeasure with loopholes in its privacy protection requirements, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services moved this week to bolster security standards as well as penalties for violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
10/31/2009 Montana lawmakers have twice rejected prescription monitoring Billings Gazette Kahrin Deines A law that would have authorized the creation of a prescription monitoring database has once again died in committee over security concerns.
10/26/2009 Doctor and Two Former Hospital Employees Sentenced for HIPAA Violations Federal Bureau of Investigation   Two former hospital employees and a doctor have been sentenced for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA) violations. 
10/22/2009 Panel tackles privacy restrictions regarding lab data  Modern Healthcare Online   The Health Information Technology Policy Committee held a five-hour public hearing this week to hear from witnesses on privacy restrictions related to lab data.
10/20/2009 New Study Reveals Push to Electronic Medical Records Puts Patient Privacy at Risk Reuters Ray George A study of more than 500 senior IT practitioners from healthcare organizations shows that even as the drive to move patient records online ensues, privacy may not be top of mind for senior management.
10/6/2009 Hospitals Need to Reach Out to Business Associates Health Data Management Howard Anderson At the American Health Information Management Association convention in Texas, a senior compliance consultant said that hospitals and other healthcare organizations should be working with their business associates to prepare for compliance with newly updated federal data privacy and security provisions.
10/5/2009 AHIMA floats privacy 'bill of rights' Government Health IT Brian Robinson The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) has created a patient privacy bill of rights.
10/5/2009 IU Center receives NIH grant to improve privacy protection in medical research IU News Room   The Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research (CACR) at Indiana University has received more than a half-million dollars in support of a two-year project on patient privacy.
10/1/2009 E-Medical Data Valuable To Health Industry Information Week W. David Gardner PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) surveyed more than 700 healthcare executives, finding that 75 percent of respondents feel that within five years, the industry's most valuable asset will be the information contained in electronic medical records.
9/28/2009 Doctors mistakenly fax patients' data to Indiana company The Tennessean Chris Echegaray Doctors in three Tennessee cities have been sending sensitive patient information to the fax machine of an Indiana businessman for three years.
9/28/2009 Formal privacy policies are needed to protect the public in the wake of patient details being shared on social networking websites
 SC Magazine Staff The managing director of a messaging security provider says there is a need for formal policies to protect patient privacy.
9/23/2009 Med Students on Twitter, Facebook: No Patient Privacy? Time  Alice Park The results of survey published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association reveal that medical school students are making missteps on social media.
9/22/2009 Privacy groups blast new health care notification rule SC Magazine Angela Moscaritolo Two new breach-notification rules mandated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act go into effect.
9/21/2009 Jamie Heywood: Forget Medical Privacy Wired Brendan I. Koerner  Jamie Heywood, founder of PatientsLikeMe.com, a health portal where individuals with chronic diseases share information, says physicians' and hospitals' tight rein on medical records is making us sicker. 
9/18/2009 Privacy experts face off over patient control, policy safeguards Government Health IT Mary Mosquera Privacy advocates presented ideas for protecting electronic personal health information before the Health IT Policy Committee. 
9/16/2009 Notification Rule on HIPAA Data Breach Effective Soon HR.BLR.com   The new HIPAA breach notification rule takes effect next week.
9/15/2009 Federal panel okays EHR security, privacy standards  Government Health IT Mary Mosquera The Health IT Standards Committee endorsed a set of security and privacy standards for electronic health record systems.
9/2/2009 HHS health IT meetings will focus on privacy, security Government Health IT Mary Mosquera Two committees that inform the National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal, will focus on privacy and security at upcoming meetings.
9/2/2009 Is your health privacy at risk? Network World Carolyn Duffy Marsan According to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), medical identity theft is on the rise as health insurance fraud becomes more common. 
8/27/2009 VA plans emerging tech center for healthcare Government Health IT Mary Mosquera The Veterans Affairs Department wants to build a research center for developing new health technologies, including those that could manage the privacy and security of health information.
8/19/2009 HHS rules providers, payers, must notify of health info breaches Government Health IT Mary Mosquera The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published its rule on mandatory breach notification requirements.
8/19/2009 Pfizer will make clinical trial networking site Forbes Associated Press Pfizer announced yesterday that it will create a Web site to help connect patients with researchers, drug makers and physicians.
8/18/2009 Amid Privacy Concerns, White House Shuts Down Health Care Tip Line Washington Post Garance Franke-Ruta The White House has shut down its e-mail "tip line" for health insurance reform "disinformation." 
8/17/2009 FTC's PHR Breach Rule = Confusion Health Data Management Joseph Goedert The Federal Trade Commission this week released its 88-page final rule requiring personal health records vendors to notify customers in the event of a data breach.
8/12/2009 HHS Hiring Privacy Officers   Joseph Goedert Health Data Management reports that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is expanding its information privacy enforcement staff. 
8/8/2009 And you thought a prescription was private New York Times Milt Freudenheim An article in the New York Times discusses the trade of prescription data among pharmacies and drug marketers. 
8/3/2009 HIPAA security rule enforcement transferred to OCR AHANews.com   Going forward, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights will oversee enforcement of both the HIPAA privacy and security rules.
8/1/2009 Deven McGraw of CDT Privacy and Security in the implementation of health IT ExecutiveBiz Amara Channell Deven McGraw, the director of the Health Privacy Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology, talks about health IT in an interview with ExecutiveBiz.com. 
7/30/2009 Hospital patients' private records allegedly sold to Miami-Dade lawyer Miami Herald Jay Weaver After two years and many transactions, a man has been charged for his role in a medical records racket that delivered patients' hospital records into the hands of a personal injury attorney.
7/24/2009 Official: Panel wants privacy protection for electronic medical records Federal Computer Week Alice Lipowicz A federal advisory panel workgroup has created 37 technical standards for protecting patients' privacy in the electronic health record (EHR) environment.
7/24/2009 Privacy matters: When is persona data truly de-deidentified? Computerworld Jay Cline The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will decide soon whether healthcare entities should notify patients in the event their de-identified data has been breached.
7/20/2009 Doctor, Two Hospital Employees Plead Guilty to Violating Pressly's Privacy Northwest Arkansas Business Journal Staff Two former hospital employees and a doctor plead guilty to misdemeanor violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in a Little Rock federal court. 
7/16/2009 Kaiser Bellflower is fined $187,500 for privacy breach Los Angeles Times Ruben Vives Kaiser Permanente has been hit with another fine from the California Department of Public Health for failing to protect patient privacy.
7/15/2009 UBS Case: U.S. Wants Data on Secret Swiss Bank Accounts Time  Mark Lenninghan The U.S. government's dogged pursuit of suspected tax evaders and the Swiss government's determination to uphold its banking secrecy laws has resulted in a diplomatic showdown of unprecedented proportions. 
7/13/2009 United States: Significant changes to HIPAA As A Result Of President Obama´s Stimulus Package Mondaq Allison K. Perry Anticipating the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's multi-billion dollar investment in digitizing the health records of all Americans, Congress made changes to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to improve patient privacy protections.
7/10/2009 CVS, Walgreens agree to new consumer protections WTHR News Richard Essex Indiana's attorney general (AG) says an agreement reached between his office and two drugstore giants will help prevent future privacy violations.
7/9/2009 New Law Floods California With Medical Data Breach Reports Wired Kim Zetter California officials are surprised about the number of patient privacy breaches that have been reported since a new state law took effect five months ago.
7/1/2009 Hospital:  Press firings surpass criminal cases Arkansas Democratic Gazette Linda Satter Two former hospital employees were charged with misdemeanor violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act in a Little Rock federal court. 
6/23/2009 Prescription drug fight goes before appeals court Washington Post Larry Neumeister A lawyer for three data mining companies this week asked the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to block implementation of Vermont's Prescription Confidentiality Law.
6/18/2009 Five Steps to HITECH Preparedness CSO Magazine Rick Kam The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) compliance deadline is September 18, 2009. 
6/10/2009 Medical privacy violator gets 1 year Honolulu Advertiser Jim Dooley A 22-year-old former hospital employee has been sentenced to a year in prison for her role in the release of a patient's sensitive medical records.
6/9/2009 Electronic Health Records and Privacy Law Law.com Eric A. Klein and Christine C. Cohn Two attorneys lay out the complexities associated with rolling out electronic health records (EHRs) in today's regulatory environment. 
6/8/2009 Pharmacy pays fine for jeopardizing patient information WTHR News Bob Segall An Indianapolis drug store chain has reached a settlement with state authorities on charges it failed to protect customers' privacy when discarding prescription records in a dumpster.
6/3/2009 How Safe Are Your Medical Records? Forbes Rebecca Ruiz Twelve percent of all data loss incidents involve medical information.
5/29/2009 Push for Electronic Medical Recors Must Slow Down, For Security's Sake PC World Robert Vamosi Former White House cybersecurity official Howard Schmidt is concerned that the push for rapid adoption of electronic medical records (EMRs) might leave security in its wake. 
5/15/2009 Kaiser hospital fined $250,000 for privacy breach in octuplet case Los Angeles Times Charles Ornstein California regulators imposed the first monetary sanction since a new law to help protect patient privacy went into effect on January 1.
5/11/2009 Walgreens seeks to settle case over dumped documents WTHR News Bob Segall Walgreens wants to settle a case involving patient privacy violations, but the Indiana Attorney General wants to wait until the Federal Trade Commission and Office of Civil Rights have reached an agreement with the company
5/11/2009 Electronic medical records come with challenges, researchers find Boston Globe Carolyn Johnson A report on challenges so far in the push towards implementing electronic health records (EHRs). 
5/4/2009 Hackers break into Virginia Health Professionals Database, Demand Ransom Washington Post Brian Krebs Hackers are holding for ransom the prescription drug records of eight million Virginia residents.
4/30/2009 U.S. health data czar sees role for government hand Reuters Susan Heavey The nation's new health information technology (HIT) boss will soon make decisions on how to use some of the funds dedicated to HIT in the recently passed stimulus package. 
4/28/2009 House speaker breaks tie on medical privacy bill  AP via WZTV    House Speaker Kent Williams has stepped in to break a tie on a proposal to give parents full access to their children's medical procedures and tests.
4/27/2009 Electronic medical records have people abuzz. What's the reality? Los Angeles Times Tammy Worth Primary care physician Matt Handley believes that information technology enables him to provide better patient care. 
4/23/2009 The Mad Dash to Digitize Medical Records  Business Week Chad Terhune, Keith Epstein and Catherine Arnst  GE, Google, and others, in a stimulus-fueled frenzy, are piling into the business. But electronic health records have a dubious history.
4/22/2009 Kaiser testing tech to enhance medical treatment, privacy ZDNet Blogs Sam Diaz Cisco Systems, as part of the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco, bussed a group of folks across the San Francisco Bay this week to tour Kaiser's Sidney R. Garfield Health Care Innovation Center - a former check processing warehouse in an industrial area near the Oakland Airport.
4/22/2009 Frightening Privacy Concerns for New Healthcare Technology  Opposing Views Greg Scandlen The ACLU put out a video illustrating what could happen when privacy is violated.  
4/22/2009 The Devil Inside Digitizing Medical Data  Forbes Robert Langreth Pittsburgh's experience is a cautionary tale about the hidden complexities--and life-or-death consequences--of rolling out complex software programs in fast-paced hospital environments.
4/21/2009 Are Electronic Health Records Worth the Risks? Wall Street Journal Sarah Rubenstein EHR proponents are warning about patient privacy and other challenges inherent in the move towards health IT.
4/21/2009 Shedding Privacy to Share Health Information Online  findingDulcinea Lindsey Chapman In an era of strict medical privacy, some people are sharing their health issues and even procedures online to help others.
4/21/2009 Microsoft and Mayo Clinic Unveil Free Site for Storing Medical Records  Fast Company Cliff Kuang The Mayo Clinic and Microsoft unveiled a free Web site aimed at solving the thorny problem of keeping up all your medical records.
4/21/2009 Florida database to track prescription drugs moves closer to reality  tampabay.com Breanne Gilpatrick An effort to curb prescription drug abuse and stop South Florida's growing pain-clinic industry is headed to the House and Senate floors, after the proposal cleared a key House committee Monday.
4/20/2009 FTC's hard-line enforcement may shock industry ModernHealthcare,com Joseph Conn The government took another step last week toward closing a legal loophole in federal privacy and security rules for emerging Health 2.0 information technology applications by issuing proposed rules aimed at covering an estimated 900 companies and organizations offering personal health records and electronic systems connected to them.
4/20/2009 HHS offers health IT privacy guidelines Government Health IT Brian Robinson The Health and Human Services Department has begun overhauling the privacy and security rules that govern personal health information, which is considered vital to attempts by Congress and the Obama administration to broaden the adoption of electronic health records.
4/20/2009 Proposed breach notification rule would affect more health vendors  nextgov Quantcast
Bob Brewin
Rules proposed by the Federal Trade Commission on April 16 on disclosure of breaches of personal health information would greatly expand the number of companies that would be subject to notifying individuals if their personal health data was exposed because records were lost or stolen, or because a hacker broke into a computer health network.
4/19/2009 Americans' medical files go digital, by way of Asia  Los Angeles Times Paul Watson Low-paid transcriptionists in the Philippines, India and elsewhere are helping to keep the huge U.S. healthcare bureaucracy running.
4/18/2009 Some Caveats About Keeping Your Own Electronic Health Records  New York Times WALECIA KONRAD The Obama administration's plan to spend $19 billion on electronic medical records has generated so much buzz you might think it was the biggest thing in health care since penicillin.
4/17/2009 Bill moving to develop electronic medical records  Fort Mills Times ANNE SUTTON A bill that would modernize how Alaska health care providers keep medical records is speeding through the Legislature to capture federal stimulus money.
4/16/2009 FTC Publishes Proposed Breach Notification Rule For Electronic Health Information Federal Trade Commission   The Federal Trade Commission today announced that it has approved a Federal Register notice seeking public comment on a proposed rule that would require entities to notify consumers when the security of their electronic health information is breached.
4/14/2009 HHS issues guidance on safeguarding data ModernHealthcare Joseph Conn HHS has issued guidance on protecting personally identifiable healthcare information by encrypting or destroying it so that it is rendered "unusable, unreadable or indecipherable to unauthorized individuals."
4/14/2009 ARRA Privacy and Security Compliance Should Begin Now Thompson Publishers Joan The journey to compliance with new Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy and security regulations should begin now.
4/14/2009 HIPAA compliance: New regulations change the game  SearchSecurity.com David Mortman Changes to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) were recently enacted under The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) as part of the recent American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. However, these changes don't go into effect until February of 2010, meaning there's time before companies need to be compliant. 
4/14/2009 Privacy rules hamper adoption of electronic medical records, study says Computerworld Jaikumar Vijayan University researchers who looked at the impact of health privacy regulations on the adoption of electronic medical records (EMR) systems.
4/11/2009 Less Than Half of Self-insured Organizations Addressing HIPAA  ADVANCE (King of Prussia, PA) Robert N. Mitchell Following far behind insurance companies and health care providers, only about 40 percent of self-insured organizations have started work on HIPAA security at their organizations.
4/6/2009 Deloitte Survey Finds Healthy Consumer Demand for Electronic Health Records, Online Tools and Services  Deloitte.com   A study of 4,000 U.S. adults' attitudes towards health information technology (HIT) has found that many are interested in using HIT, but have concerns about the privacy of their personal medical information. 
4/6/2009 Putting Patient Privacy in Peril? Business Week Rachel King Rachael King explores the topic of patient privacy as medical records become digitized.
4/2/2009 Patients' files poised at trash bin The Boston Globe Kay Lazar A Lynn, Mass. storage facility is death row for hundreds of orphaned medical records.
3/30/2009 Industry Insiders Discuss HIT and HIPAA Issues DotMed News Astrid Fiano As part of a series of articles on health IT (HIT) issues, DOTmed News spoke to industry experts Kirk J. Nahra and Lise Rauzi about the Obama administration's HIT focus and its potential impact on patient privacy. 
3/30/2009 15 workers fired for accessing octuplet mom's file Mercury News  Raquel Maria Dillon Fifteen employees at Kaiser Permanente's Bellflower facility have been fired for accessing the medical records of a well-known patient.
3/30/2009 High court asked to review N.H. prescription privacy policy The Associated Press   Two companies are challenging New Hampshire's prescription confidentiality law.
3/18/2009 Health care experts warn of challenges for IT adoption Cnet News Stephanie Condon Experts discussing the nationwide implementation of electronic medical records (EMRs) at an American Enterprise Institute forum on Wednesday agreed that the move to EMRs has great potential, but will be very challenging to bring forward.
3/14/2009 Drug database raises privacy concerns Pekin Daily Times Sharon Woods Harris Despite built-in privacy provisions, a proposed amendment to the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program has raised privacy concerns.
3/10/2009 Wal-Mart Plans to Market System for Digital Health Records New York Times Steve Lohr Wal-Mart's Sam's Club division is teaming up with Dell to create eClinicalWorks, a private company that will offer electronic health records packages to small physicians' practices.
3/6/2009 CVS Caremark accused of violating Florida employees' privacy Miami Herald John Dorschner The group Change to Win has accused CVS Caremark of violating Florida employees' privacy.
3/2/2009 Industry coalition launches health IT security plan Reuters Susan Kelly A coalition of healthcare companies and technology vendors has unveiled a framework for safeguarding the privacy of electronic medical records.
2/27/2009 File-sharing networks used to uncover thousands of medical records Nextgov Bob Brewin Using peer-to-peer (P2P) applications, a Dartmouth College technology professor accessed tens of thousands of electronic medical records on computers that had P2P programs on their hard drives.
2/19/2009 CVS to pay $2.25 million to settle privacy case Bloomberg   America's largest drugstore chain will pay $2.5 million for violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
2/13/2009 Privacy Trumps Profit in $19 Billion Health Stimulus  Bloomberg Nicole Gaouette Patient advocates are embracing the privacy protections included in the stimulus bill President Obama will sign into law today.
2/10/2009 Lobbying War Ensues Over Digital Health Data Washington Post Ellen Nakashima Competing visions for how the privacy of medical records should be protected has become the focus of a political battle as Congress figures out how to spend $20 billion in economic stimulus earmarked for the creation of an electronic health records network. 
2/5/2009 Google Bats Away Suggestion of Ad Conflict with Google Health Channel Web Chad Berndtson In response to fears and accusations that Google's behavioral advertising platform will operate behind the scenes to target Google Health users with online marketing driven by sensitive healthcare data, Alfred Spector, Google's vice president of research and special initiatives, told a gathering of healthcare executives that Google Health will operate under the Google brand, but on a separate network on which the company's ad platform will not be part.
2/4/2009 Experts urge overhaul of health privacy rules Reuters Will Dunham Citing poor privacy protections but many hindrances to the use of health data in medical research, representatives from the Institute of Medicine are urging Congress to rethink HIPAA and the way personal information is protected and used in the United States. 
2/2/2009 Daschle received speaking fees from groups opposing patient privacy NextGov Bob Brewin President Obama's former nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Daschle received speaking fees from two groups opposed to the privacy provisions in the House economic stimulus bill.
2/2/2009 Appeals court rejects disclosure of Medicare data  St. Petersburg Times Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar A federal appeals court has overturned a lower court's ruling on the release of patient data.
2/2/2009 Privacy advocates hail stimulus bills Government Health IT Nancy Ferris Patient privacy advocates are lauding the privacy protections included in the House version of the economic stimulus bill, passed last week.
1/27/2009 Groups push for health IT privacy safeguards ComputerWorld Grant Gross Last night the House okayed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the stimulus bill that includes $20 billion for health IT. 
1/23/2009 Bill would make prescription data private seattlepi.com Vanessa Ho Washington lawmakers have introduced a bill to protect consumers' prescription privacy.
1/19/2009 Economic Stimulus Package Could Impinge on America's Health Privacy, Says Group Government Technology   President-elect Barack Obama's plans to spend billions on initiatives to digitize Americans' health records by 2014 have some concerned about patient privacy.
1/17/2009 Privacy Issue Complicates Push to Link Medical Data New York Times Robert Pear President-elect Barack Obama has promised to make all medical records electronic by 2014 in order to cut costs and reduce medical errors, among other benefits. 
1/15/2009 Privacy groups urge politicians to ensure safeguards for health IT Nextgov Andrew Noyes If funds for spurring electronic medical records become part of the economic stimulus package, privacy and civil liberties groups want to make sure language about security safeguards goes with them. 
1/12/2009 Obama:  All medical records computerized by 2014 The Industry Standard Sindya Bhanoo The call for computerized health records has grown louder in recent months, and now it's coming straight from the top.
1/9/2009 Hospital Addresses Online Privacy Mistake WPXI News   A West Penn hospital patient was surprised to find she had access to other patients' information on a bill-paying Web site.
1/9/2009 Minnesota offers new controls on newborn blood tests Star Tribune staff The Minnesota Department of Health will propose legislation this year to address privacy concerns associated with its infant blood databank.
12/19/2008 Electronic Records Are Key to Health-Care Reform Business Week William A. Yasnoff President-elect Obama must make electronic medical records a top priority in his economic stimulus plan and the privacy of those records must be first and foremost. 
12/15/2008 HHS head calls for voluntary e-health privacy guidelines nextgov Bob Brewin The outgoing Department of Health and Human Services secretary says that the benefits of health IT won't be fully realized until the privacy concerns are addressed. 
12/15/2008 Courts in 2 states rule on reach of HIPAA  in medical liability cases amednews.com Amy Lynn Sorrel Courts in two states recently interpreted the reach of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in court proceedings.
12/7/2008 MySpace gripe about patient sparks federal privacy complaint ars Technica Julian Sanchez A Pennsylvanian OB/GYN could face penalties for an employee's comments about patients on her MySpace profile.
11/20/2008 Hospital fires up to 6 for accessing Pressly's files Arkansas Democratic Gazette Jacob Quinn Sanders More than one employee of Little Rock's St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center has been fired for breaching a patient's medical records.
11/19/2008 GE unveils electronic medical records initiative The Industry Standard Sindya Bhanoo General Electric is making a big investment in healthcare IT.
11/18/2008 Court Upholds New Hampshire Drug Law New York Times Stephanie Saul The prescription data industry took a hit yesterday when the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston ruled that New Hampshire's law to restrict access to doctor's prescription-writing habits is constitutional.
11/13/2008 Is There a Privacy Risk in Google Flu Trends? New York Times Miguel Helft Privacy advocates are questioning Google on its new Flu Trends service.
11/11/2008 Google uses web searches to track flu's spread New York Times Miguel Helft The New York Times reports that Google Flu Trends aggregates users' flu-related Internet searches and charts activity by state and region. The information is expected to help healthcare providers more effectively respond to outbreaks, among other benefits. 
11/5/2008 Does personalized genomics pit privacy against ethics? Ars Technica John Timmer A look at the privacy and ethical considerations associated with personalized genomics, outlining two online commentaries from the journal Nature. 
11/1/2008 Oregon man's STD reporting website generates controversy KGW   An Oregon man has created a Web site that "outs" people who have incurable sexually transmitted diseases.
10/30/2008 Tally of improperly accessed UCLA patient records tops 1,000 Los Angeles Times Rong-Gong Lin II California's Department of Public Health issued its final report on UCLA Medical Center data breaches yesterday, revealing that the total number of patients whose medical data was improperly accessed is 1,041. 
10/29/2008 Congressional Democrats are drafting a new health IT bill Government Health IT Nancy Ferris Congressional Democrats are working on a measure that includes added incentives for healthcare providers to adopt e-health records, the report states. 
10/28/2008 Health care data security breaches in the U.S. SC Magazine Kevin Prince Kevin Prince reveals the results of a study to determine the impact of data security breaches in the U.S. healthcare industry. 
10/28/2008 Laws help limit use of wellness program data Associated Press Tom Murphy Employees concerned about what happens with the information spawned from their use of employer-sponsored wellness programs might find comfort in the fact there are laws to prevent bosses from obtaining that information.
10/22/2008 A promising diagnosis:  Creating unique patient IDs could mean safer, cheaper, more efficient health care Houston Chronicle   Americans "should be getting more bang for their buck" when it comes to healthcare, says a Houston Chronicle editorial, and a new RAND Corp. study shows how they could. 
10/21/2008 OMB sponsors online discussion of privacy issues Government Health IT Nancy Ferris The National Academy of Public Administration will hold a public, virtual discussion on healthcare privacy issues.
10/21/2008 Genetic Privacy:  An outdated concern? Technology Review Emily Singer One participant in the Personal Genome Project, the Harvard University Medical School study that will share the sensitive medical and health information, including genetic predispositions, of 10 volunteers, told the MIT Technology Review that she wanted to share her genomic information in order to "bring genomic information into the realm of the mundane." 
10/19/2008 The DNA Age - Taking a Peek at the Experts' Genetic Secrets New York Times Amy Harmon A Harvard University Medical School study will make available to the public the sensitive medical information of 10 people, with their consent. 
10/16/2008 HIPAA Covered Entities in Calif. Could See Stiff Penalties for Privacy Breaches AIS Health Business Daily Bill Learner Two new California laws aimed at protecting citizens' healthcare information are expected to shake things up in the sector.
10/16/2008 Experts predict federal law on medical ID theft Government Health IT John Pulley A strengthened federal law to combat medical ID theft may be on the horizon.
10/7/2008 New health-care privacy laws heighten need for HIPAA compliance in California Computerworld Jaikumar Vijayan Two data privacy bills signed into law in California last week are expected to fuel compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
10/1/2008 Schwarzenegger signs bill creating hospital privacy oversight office Los Angeles Times Jordan Rau & Patrick McGreevy California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday signed two bills aimed at protecting patient privacy.
9/30/2008 HHS Rule Exempts Four Federal Systems From Privacy Act Provisions iHealthBeat   The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) last week published a final rule to exempt HITS, the system that tracks alleged violations of certain Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) provisions, and three other "systems of records," including two complaint tracking systems and a fraud investigation database.
9/29/2008 Cell phone cameras create privacy issue Daily Herald Scripps Howard News Service Concerns about cell phones affecting the functionality of medical equipment once caused many hospitals to ban or restrict their use, but new phone technologies now give patients and healthcare providers cause for concern. 
9/26/2008 A New Medical Procedure US Airways Magazine Dan Tynan The movement to bring digital health records to the mainstream must overcome two big hurdles, according to Dan Tynan, writing for US Airways Magazine: provider adoption and consumer confidence.
9/23/2008 Health care CIO tackles complex security, privacy mandates SearchCIO.com Linda Tucci In a Q&A interview with SearchCIO.com, the CIO of a nonprofit health system discusses what she describes as the "extreme complexities" of healthcare privacy.
9/23/2008 Human error to blame for Grady data breach Atlanta Journal Constitution Craig Schneider Forty-five patient records from an Atlanta hospital were inadvertently posted onto a publicly available area of the Web and remained there for three weeks.
9/22/2008 Hospital employees post patients' pictures on Web site International Herald Tribune Associated Press Two University of New Mexico Hospital employees have been fired for taking photographs of emergency room patients and posting them on MySpace.
9/19/2008 HHS needs to extend health privacy efforts Government Health IT John Moore A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report reveals that there is room for improvement in Health and Human Services Department efforts to protect patients' health information in a national network environment.
9/17/2008 Rep. Stark Introduces Bill To Create Electronic Medical Records System, Strengthen Privacy Medical News Today   The chair of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee earlier this week introduced a bill to develop a national system of electronic medical records and incentives for using the system.
9/8/2008 Feds finally put teeth into HIPAA enforcement Computerworld Jaikumar Vijayan The Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) recent enforcement of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) violations is being viewed as a harbinger of future HIPAA-related crackdowns. 
9/5/2008 CEOs urge government push for HER adoption Healthcare IT News Bernie Monegain A group of CEOs representing about 160 U.S. companies is urging Congress to make the adoption of health IT technologies a priority in the coming legislative session.
8/30/2008 Patient Privacy Advocate named one of the most powerful people in healthcare industry TechWhack   The founder of a consumer privacy advocacy has been named one of the 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare magazine.
8/28/2008 Emotional Distress Not Enough to Recover for Privacy Act Violations Wall Street Journal Dan Slater The courts are divided on whether emotional distress caused by the government's illegal disclosure of a person's medical information warrants damages.
8/27/2008 New oversight, stiffer penalties approved for snooping into patients records Los Angeles Times Patrick McGreevy The California state Senate yesterday approved a measure to help improve patient privacy. The bill would establish a state Office of Health Information Integrity and would require hospitals to compose plans for safeguarding patient information.
8/26/2008 Who's reading your medical files today? Christian Science Monitor Sue Blevins Sue Blevins says that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) fails to ensure patients' privacy and that Congress needs to develop stronger privacy rights for patients. 
8/20/2008 The Security And Privacy Of Healthcare Data Information Week George Hulme A group of nine healthcare companies interested in enhancing the privacy and security of electronic patient information above and beyond what the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires have created a consortium dedicated to delivering best practices on electronic medical records.
8/17/2008 Medical privacy law fails to stop snooping Des Moines Register Clark Kauffman The majority of the 38,000 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) complaints filed over the past five years have never been investigated.
8/16/2008 A Social Network for Your Doctor, Pharmacist and Insurer The Washington Post Kendra Marr A new employer-sponsored social network for patients and healthcare providers aims to help companies evaluate their corporate health plans, but has many concerned about patient privacy. 
8/7/2008 Hospitals See Attention to Patient Privacy as Competitive Advantage AIS Health Business Daily Report on Patient Privacy In the increasingly competitive hospital marketplace, patient privacy has taken a front seat as administrators realize the link between patient privacy and customer satisfaction. 
8/5/2008 More UCLA staff saw celebs' health records The Mercury News Associated Press More UCLA Medical Center staff members than originally estimated inappropriately accessed the medical records of celebrities and other well-known patients between 2004 and 2006. 
8/4/2008 Prescription Data Used To Assess Consumers The Washington Post Ellen Nakashima A new tool for insurance companies is raising concern among privacy and consumer advocates. The use of health "credit reports" to assess coverage viability is becoming popular practice. 
8/1/2008 Rx drug law faces legal hurdle Battleboro Reformer Bob Audette The Washington Legal Foundation (WLF) is contesting a Vermont law that regulates how private companies use physicians' prescription data. 
7/29/2008 Writing is on the wall for doctors' e-prescriptions USA Today Janet Kornblum Financial incentives to help drive doctors' use of e-prescriptions are expected to reduce medical errors and possibly save organizations money. But some privacy advocates worry that digitizing prescriptions will make it easier for pharmacies to sell and trade them, opening up patients to privacy violations.
7/28/2008 Medical bloggers risk patient privacy breaches Fierce Healthcare Anne Zieger Researchers at the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at the University of Pennsylvania recently revealed the results of a study aimed at determining whether some medical blogs might violate patient privacy. 
7/24/2008 Rep. Stark will propose another health IT bill Government Health IT Nancy Ferris On the heels of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's passing of a bipartisan health IT bill, one California lawmaker announced he will introduce new health IT legislation 
7/24/2008 CCHIT will focus on privacy in certifying PHRs Government Health IT Maureen McKinney The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) will begin certifying personal health records (PHR) for privacy. 
7/23/2008 Is HIPAA now spelled APATHY? ADVANCE for Health Information Executives Margret Amatayakul and Michael R. Cohen An Advance article suggests that healthcare provider organizations have little motivation to bear the costs associated with complying with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) security rule due to an apparent lack of consequences for non-compliance. 
7/23/2008 House committee approves major health IT bill Government Health IT Nancy Ferris A bill to help usher in electronic health records for all Americans has been approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The Protecting Records, Optimizing Treatment and Easing Communication through Healthcare Technology Act of 2008 won unanimous endorsement yesterday, after committee members made final tweaks to the bill's language for privacy and business considerations. 
7/22/2008 Lawmakers tweak privacy language to keep business community on board with IT bill TheHill.com Jeffrey Young The House Energy and Commerce Committee will soften the privacy provisions of a measure to advance the use of information technology in healthcare recordkeeping.
7/22/2008 Providence to pay fine for health privacy violations oregonlive.com Joe Rojas-Burke Providence Health & Services will pay $100,000 to settle violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The nonprofit health system has been under federal investigation for failing to protect the medical records of nearly 400,000 patients in Oregon and Washington. The records were stolen when unencrypted computer disks, laptops and digital tapes were stolen from employees' vehicles in 2005 and 2006. 
7/21/2008 S.C. Medicaid patients' records go online The Post and Courier Jill Coley The medical histories of 800,000 South Carolina Medicaid patients are now online. The S.C. Department of Health and Human Services houses the encrypted data and bounces information to clinics and doctors' offices upon request and at no charge. 
7/10/2008 UPDATE: Privacy Protections Key to Electronic Records Bill cnnmoney.com Fawn Johnson Representative Joe Barton told a Washington, D.C. audience that privacy protections being written into the proposed law will be the strongest in 5 to 10 years, and that he believes those provisions will stand as a model for other industries to follow. 
7/10/2008 UPDATE: Privacy Protections Key to Electronic Records Bill cnnmoney.com Fawn Johnson Representative Joe Barton told a Washington, D.C. audience that privacy protections being written into the proposed law will be the strongest in 5 to 10 years, and that he believes those provisions will stand as a model for other industries to follow. 
7/3/2008 Mayor:  Pregnancy numbers may violate privacy Gloucester Daily Times Patrick Anderson Gloucester, Massachusetts mayor Carolyn Kirk is looking into whether the Gloucester High School (GHS) health clinic violated students' rights to privacy in releasing details about pregnancies. The school has been under the international news spotlight since the press first reported an increase in teen pregnancies among students.
7/3/2008 Mayor:  Pregnancy numbers may violate privacy Gloucester Daily Times Patrick Anderson Gloucester, Massachusetts mayor Carolyn Kirk is looking into whether the Gloucester High School (GHS) health clinic violated students' rights to privacy in releasing details about pregnancies. The school has been under the international news spotlight since the press first reported an increase in teen pregnancies among students.
6/29/2008 AG pushes for prescription drug database Boston Globe Associated Press Drug abuse deaths have surpassed traffic accident deaths for the past two years, and New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte wants to help curb this growing problem by creating a centralized database to track commonly abused prescription drugs.
6/29/2008 AG pushes for prescription drug database Boston Globe Associated Press Drug abuse deaths have surpassed traffic accident deaths for the past two years, and New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte wants to help curb this growing problem by creating a centralized database to track commonly abused prescription drugs.
6/25/2008 Privacy provisions threaten health IT bill Government Health IT Nancy Ferris After receiving voice vote approval from the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Health Subcommittee on Friday, a bill to upgrade privacy provisions for electronic health records (EHRs) moves to full committee.
6/25/2008 Prescription for Protecting Health Records Globe and Mail Michael Liedtke About six million Americans today store their medical records online, but millions more have not embraced the idea yet, largely due to privacy concerns. But multiple players in the personal health record (PHR) arena have agreed on a set of guidelines for protecting patient privacy that they hope will assure consumers of their records' safety so they will begin using PHRs, which have been developed to offer consumers a more convenient method for managing their medical histories.
6/25/2008 Privacy provisions threaten health IT bill Government Health IT Nancy Ferris After receiving voice vote approval from the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Health Subcommittee on Friday, a bill to upgrade privacy provisions for electronic health records (EHRs) moves to full committee.
6/25/2008 Prescription for Protecting Health Records Globe and Mail Michael Liedtke About six million Americans today store their medical records online, but millions more have not embraced the idea yet, largely due to privacy concerns. But multiple players in the personal health record (PHR) arena have agreed on a set of guidelines for protecting patient privacy that they hope will assure consumers of their records' safety so they will begin using PHRs, which have been developed to offer consumers a more convenient method for managing their medical histories.
6/16/2008 HIPAA Privacy Rule Impedes Biomedical Research The Earth Times Association of Academic Health Centers A report of the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC) finds that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy rule has a negative impact on the advance of biomedical research.
6/16/2008 HIPAA Privacy Rule Impedes Biomedical Research The Earth Times Association of Academic Health Centers A report of the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC) finds that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy rule has a negative impact on the advance of biomedical research.
6/15/2008 Area authorities hamstrung by HIPAA regulations Green Bay Press Gazette Andy Helesen Some Wisconsin law enforcement officials are feeling bound by the privacy protections afforded by the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which limits the details that can be released about a patient's care and condition.
6/15/2008 Area authorities hamstrung by HIPAA regulations Green Bay Press Gazette Andy Helesen Some Wisconsin law enforcement officials are feeling bound by the privacy protections afforded by the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which limits the details that can be released about a patient's care and condition.
6/13/2008 Blue Cross plans Web access to records The Boston Globe Jeffrey Krasner Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts has partnered with Google Health to offer patients an online tool for managing and transporting their medical records.
6/13/2008 Blue Cross plans Web access to records The Boston Globe Jeffrey Krasner Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts has partnered with Google Health to offer patients an online tool for managing and transporting their medical records.
6/10/2008 Utah hospital billing records from over 2 million patients stolen kutv.com Associated Press The billing records of 2.2 million University of Utah Hospital patients have been stolen. The records were contained on backup tapes in a gray metal box and were stolen from the vehicle of a courier who failed to deliver the box to a storage center immediately after picking it up from the hospital on June 1. 
6/10/2008 Utah hospital billing records from over 2 million patients stolen kutv.com Associated Press The billing records of 2.2 million University of Utah Hospital patients have been stolen. The records were contained on backup tapes in a gray metal box and were stolen from the vehicle of a courier who failed to deliver the box to a storage center immediately after picking it up from the hospital on June 1. 
6/5/2008 Jerry Brown's Rx for drug abuse: the Internet Los Angeles Times Tim Reiterman California Attorney General Jerry Brown wants to update the state's prescription monitoring system in order to more effectively fight prescription drug abuse.
6/5/2008 Your private health details may already be online CNN.com Elizabeth Cohen Mammogram results. Birth control preferences. Prescription drugs. A CNN medical correspondent reports how she stumbled across her own health data online and in detail. 
6/5/2008 Jerry Brown's Rx for drug abuse: the Internet Los Angeles Times Tim Reiterman California Attorney General Jerry Brown wants to update the state's prescription monitoring system in order to more effectively fight prescription drug abuse.
6/5/2008 Your private health details may already be online CNN.com Elizabeth Cohen Mammogram results. Birth control preferences. Prescription drugs. A CNN medical correspondent reports how she stumbled across her own health data online and in detail. 
5/30/2008 Senate bill OKs druggists' sharing patient files San Francisco Chronicle Elizabeth Fernandez The California Senate last week approved a bill to allow pharmacies to share patient prescription information with third-parties.
5/30/2008 Senate bill OKs druggists' sharing patient files San Francisco Chronicle Elizabeth Fernandez The California Senate last week approved a bill to allow pharmacies to share patient prescription information with third-parties.
5/29/2008 Task force to review UCSF data security San Francisco Chronicle Elizabeth Fernandez The University of California-San Francisco has developed a task force of institutional leaders to conduct a comprehensive review of actions needed to protect sensitive data.
5/29/2008 Task force to review UCSF data security San Francisco Chronicle Elizabeth Fernandez The University of California-San Francisco has developed a task force of institutional leaders to conduct a comprehensive review of actions needed to protect sensitive data.
5/28/2008 Bill would let pharmacies sell medical records San Francisco Chronicle Elizabeth Fernandez The California state Senate is expected to vote on a bill today that would allow pharmacies to sell confidential patient information to firms that market for pharmaceutical companies 
5/28/2008 Proposal To Strengthen Health Information Technology Released Government Technology   Draft legislation to encourage the adoption of Health Information Technology (HIT) was released last week by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
5/28/2008 Bill would let pharmacies sell medical records San Francisco Chronicle Elizabeth Fernandez The California state Senate is expected to vote on a bill today that would allow pharmacies to sell confidential patient information to firms that market for pharmaceutical companies 
5/28/2008 Proposal To Strengthen Health Information Technology Released Government Technology   Draft legislation to encourage the adoption of Health Information Technology (HIT) was released last week by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
5/27/2008 Hospitals, patients clash on privacy rights San Francisco Chronicle Elizabeth Fernandez Advancement programs have become critical in this day where one third of the nation's hospitals operate in the red and another third barely break even.
5/27/2008 Hospitals, patients clash on privacy rights San Francisco Chronicle Elizabeth Fernandez Advancement programs have become critical in this day where one third of the nation's hospitals operate in the red and another third barely break even.
5/23/2008 Proliferating HIFAA complaints and medical record breaches SC Magazine Sue Marquette Poremba While alleged violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) are on the rise, the number of complaints being resolved continues to decline. 
5/23/2008 Proliferating HIFAA complaints and medical record breaches SC Magazine Sue Marquette Poremba While alleged violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) are on the rise, the number of complaints being resolved continues to decline. 
5/19/2008 Google Makes Health Service Publicly Available The Associated Press Rachel Metz After completing a pilot program with volunteer patients at the Cleveland Clinic, Google made available to the public its service for aggregating medical records. Google Health gives users electronic access to their health histories and lets them link information from various entities involved in their health care, including pharmacies, diagnostic labs and providers. 
5/19/2008 Google Makes Health Service Publicly Available The Associated Press Rachel Metz After completing a pilot program with volunteer patients at the Cleveland Clinic, Google made available to the public its service for aggregating medical records. Google Health gives users electronic access to their health histories and lets them link information from various entities involved in their health care, including pharmacies, diagnostic labs and providers. 
5/15/2008 Privacy Protections Will Be Added to Wired for Health Care  Quality Bill Government Health IT Nancy Ferris Government Health IT reports that measures to better protect patient privacy will be added to the Wired for Health Care Quality Act. The bill was held up in the Senate due to Senator Patrick Leahy's concerns about the security and privacy of health records. 
5/15/2008 Privacy Protections Will Be Added to Wired for Health Care  Quality Bill Government Health IT Nancy Ferris Government Health IT reports that measures to better protect patient privacy will be added to the Wired for Health Care Quality Act. The bill was held up in the Senate due to Senator Patrick Leahy's concerns about the security and privacy of health records. 
5/13/2008 Privacy advocates seek to protect prescription information Government Health IT Nancy Ferris Concerned groups are asking Congress to include privacy provisions into a proposed e-prescribing mandate or else not pass the legislation. The Coalition for Patient Privacy and 25 other organizations co-signed a letter to lawmakers asking for 11 protections to help protect the privacy of prescription information.
5/13/2008 More tied to USLA snooping Los Angeles Times Charles Ornstein The Los Angeles Times reports that as many as 14 more employees of the UCLA Medical Center have been implicated in the scandal that saw the health records of some well-known patients compromised by unauthorized access. 
5/13/2008 Privacy advocates seek to protect prescription information Government Health IT Nancy Ferris Concerned groups are asking Congress to include privacy provisions into a proposed e-prescribing mandate or else not pass the legislation. The Coalition for Patient Privacy and 25 other organizations co-signed a letter to lawmakers asking for 11 protections to help protect the privacy of prescription information.
5/13/2008 More tied to USLA snooping Los Angeles Times Charles Ornstein The Los Angeles Times reports that as many as 14 more employees of the UCLA Medical Center have been implicated in the scandal that saw the health records of some well-known patients compromised by unauthorized access. 
5/12/2008 Healthcare 2015: Without change, not a pretty picture Wisconsin Technology Network Joe Vanden Plas Speaking at a meeting of the Wisconsin Technology Network Jim Adams, executive director of IBM's Center for Healthcare Management told attendees that the status quo for the healthcare industry is unsustainable, but transformation will not be easy. 
5/12/2008 Healthcare 2015: Without change, not a pretty picture Wisconsin Technology Network Joe Vanden Plas Speaking at a meeting of the Wisconsin Technology Network Jim Adams, executive director of IBM's Center for Healthcare Management told attendees that the status quo for the healthcare industry is unsustainable, but transformation will not be easy. 
5/8/2008 Maryland Court of Appeals Weighs Patients' Privacy Rights Red Orbit Steve Lash Maryland's highest court is weighing a case brought forward by the Maryland State Board of Physicians' against a psychiatrist who, citing privacy concerns, refused to surrender patient records requested by the board until a year after the request.
5/8/2008 Maryland Court of Appeals Weighs Patients' Privacy Rights Red Orbit Steve Lash Maryland's highest court is weighing a case brought forward by the Maryland State Board of Physicians' against a psychiatrist who, citing privacy concerns, refused to surrender patient records requested by the board until a year after the request.
5/7/2008 Opinion: Benefits of personal health records will eclipse privacy concerns Computer World Jay Cline Jay Cline predicts that in five years, the privacy debate over personal health records will be over and we'll all be storing our medical histories electronically in a central location.
5/7/2008 Opinion: Benefits of personal health records will eclipse privacy concerns Computer World Jay Cline Jay Cline predicts that in five years, the privacy debate over personal health records will be over and we'll all be storing our medical histories electronically in a central location.
4/29/2008 Patients often struggle for access to medical records USA Today Robert Davis USA Today recounts the difficulties some patients and families have endured in attempting to gain access to medical records, especially following unfortunate events.
4/29/2008 Are your medical records at risk? Wall Street Journal Sarah Rubenstein Electronic health records offer the promise of convenience and security to patients everywhere, but an ongoing slew of privacy breaches in the healthcare sector may undermine efforts toward this. 
4/29/2008 Patients often struggle for access to medical records USA Today Robert Davis USA Today recounts the difficulties some patients and families have endured in attempting to gain access to medical records, especially following unfortunate events.
4/29/2008 Are your medical records at risk? Wall Street Journal Sarah Rubenstein Electronic health records offer the promise of convenience and security to patients everywhere, but an ongoing slew of privacy breaches in the healthcare sector may undermine efforts toward this. 
4/28/2008 Genetic Data Bill Lacks Privacy Protections, Advocate Warns iHealthBeat   Yesterday's Daily Dashboard reported on the Senate's passing of the Genetic Nondiscrimination Act, which would protect people whose genetic testing reveals a susceptibility to serious disease from discriminatory employment and insurance practices based on those results. Today, at least one privacy advocate says the bill would not stop employers or insurers from doing that.
4/28/2008 Genetic Data Bill Lacks Privacy Protections, Advocate Warns iHealthBeat   Yesterday's Daily Dashboard reported on the Senate's passing of the Genetic Nondiscrimination Act, which would protect people whose genetic testing reveals a susceptibility to serious disease from discriminatory employment and insurance practices based on those results. Today, at least one privacy advocate says the bill would not stop employers or insurers from doing that.
4/26/2008 Should you trust your health records to Google and Microsoft? PC World Erik Larkin While a number of companies are in the process of developing electronic health record systems that would give patients greater control and access to their medical records, the success of any of these systems would require the establishment of trust between patient and vendor. 
4/26/2008 U.S Senate Passes Genetic Anti-Discrimination Bill The Washington Post   In a unanimous vote, the U.S. Senate passed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, a bill to protect people who learn through genetic testing that they might be susceptible to serious disease.
4/26/2008 Should you trust your health records to Google and Microsoft? PC World Erik Larkin While a number of companies are in the process of developing electronic health record systems that would give patients greater control and access to their medical records, the success of any of these systems would require the establishment of trust between patient and vendor. 
4/26/2008 U.S Senate Passes Genetic Anti-Discrimination Bill The Washington Post   In a unanimous vote, the U.S. Senate passed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, a bill to protect people who learn through genetic testing that they might be susceptible to serious disease.
4/25/2008 Health-Care company, state deny personal data was at risk Wisconsin State Journal Scott Bauer Following a report by a Wisconsin state official claiming to have identified a security breach exposing sensitive healthcare data for about 240,000 senior citizens and disabled individuals, Harmony Information Systems said the information was never at risk, and that the person who reported the breach was mistaken. 
4/25/2008 Health-Care company, state deny personal data was at risk Wisconsin State Journal Scott Bauer Following a report by a Wisconsin state official claiming to have identified a security breach exposing sensitive healthcare data for about 240,000 senior citizens and disabled individuals, Harmony Information Systems said the information was never at risk, and that the person who reported the breach was mistaken. 
4/22/2008 Sneakwrapped medical forms Info World Ed Foster The Gripe Line blog at InfoWorld.com tells of one reader's experience while preparing to undergo a colonoscopy. While filling out routine forms prior to the procedure, one form caught the patient's eye and, after a careful read, the form appeared to be an agreement to share family medical history and personally identifiable information--including Social Security number--with a third-party genetic research organization for the purpose of a possible consultation.
4/22/2008 Sneakwrapped medical forms Info World Ed Foster The Gripe Line blog at InfoWorld.com tells of one reader's experience while preparing to undergo a colonoscopy. While filling out routine forms prior to the procedure, one form caught the patient's eye and, after a careful read, the form appeared to be an agreement to share family medical history and personally identifiable information--including Social Security number--with a third-party genetic research organization for the purpose of a possible consultation.
4/17/2008 Warning on Storage of Health Records New York Times Steve Lohr Two leading medical researchers and proponents of electronic patient records have raised concerns about large companies not bound by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) creating the electronic health record market.
4/17/2008 Warning on Storage of Health Records New York Times Steve Lohr Two leading medical researchers and proponents of electronic patient records have raised concerns about large companies not bound by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) creating the electronic health record market.
4/12/2008