Data security news and information

A former employee of North Country Hospital, Newport, Vt., says he was given a laptop to fix that contained sensitive patient information. He says he tried to do the right thing and alert hospital officials when a laptop ended up in his possession with more than 3,000 patient documents on it, but...
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The Veterans Affairs Department led the nation in digitizing medical records, giving employees access to health and financial records with a few keystrokes. An analysis of reports filed with the VA's Risk Management and Incident Response Resolution Team found a pattern of illegal snooping through...
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Some healthcare CIOs hope to create a platform for dialogue and to create consensus around two sensitive privacy issues—patient record identification and consent management.
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The bad news is, if your healthcare organization hasn't yet had a privacy and security breach hit the media, it probably will, consultant Steven Bennett says.
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An unencrypted laptop containing the medical and personal data of more than 3,500 University of California at San Francisco Medical Center patients was stolen from an employee's car in September.
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The Texas Health Services Authority and the Health Information Trust Alliance are partnering to develop and implement a program that will improve the security of health information for Texas residents.
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HIPAA makes it hard for organizations to obtain personal health information and even harder to use that information for the purpose of data analysis. Empowering patients to own and share their own data—and then assuring them that it's being properly de-identified—can ease this process.
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An unsecure email sent by a CaroMont Health employee has resulted in a possible security breach involving more than 1,300 patients' personal health records. The email in question contained protected health information, including names, dates of birth, addresses, telephone numbers, medical record...
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A Janesville, Wis., hospital is warning patients after one of its laptops was stolen from an employee's car over the summer. St. Mary's Janesville Hospital thinks 629 patients may have been affected, meaning some protected health information relating to medical visits may have been compromised.
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Data breaches threaten healthcare organizations from all angles—from hackers, thieves and forgetful employees—and touch all facets of IT infrastructure. Updated HIPAA rules make organizations responsible for the actions of their business associates, too. Healthcare IT security is a...
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