21st Century Oncology Patients Seek Damages After PHI Exposure
Earlier this month, 21st Century Oncology reported a hacking incident that resulted in the exposure of 2,213,597 individuals’ protected health information (PHI). The security breach, which was...
View ArticleVirus Forces Shutdown of Medstar Health System’s 10-Hospital Computer Network
On Monday March 28, 2016, Medstar Health System discovered a computer virus had been installed on its computer network. The Columbia-based health system, which runs 10 hospitals and more than 250...
View ArticleData-Capturing Virus Discovered by Mercy Hospital in Iowa City
A computer virus may have allowed hackers to obtain the data of approximately 15,000 patients of Mercy Iowa City, according to a statement released by the hospital late last week. Patients started to...
View Article2,200 Michigan Dental Patients Notified of PHI Breach
2,200 Blue Chip Dental patients have been notified that a backup system installed to safeguard patients protected health information (PHI) has played a part in its exposure. Social Security numbers,...
View ArticleVendor Error Places Mind Springs Health Patients’ PHI in Search Engines
Earlier this month, Virtua Medical Group announced a data breach that resulted from an error made by a transcription service vendor. The protected health information (PHI) of 1,654 patients could be...
View ArticleRansomware and HIPAA: Are Attacks Reportable?
Following a number of high-profile ransomware attacks on hospitals the issue has been raised by a number of privacy experts about whether ransomware attacks are reportable under HIPAA. So far attacks...
View ArticleBreach Notification Laws in Tennessee Updated
Data breach notification laws in Tennessee have been updated to better protect state residents. The new law requires organizations to issue notifications to state residents more quickly, while the...
View Article7,500 Patients Notified of Indian Health Service PHI Theft
The medical records of approximately 7,500 patients of an Indian Health Service medical center have been recovered from storage units in Waterflow in New Mexico, at least 5 months after they were...
View ArticleRogue Employee Steals PHI of 2,000 Pointe Medical Services Patients
A former employee of Pointe Medical Services has been accused of stealing the protected health information of patients and disclosing the data to her new employer, with a view to soliciting patients...
View ArticleCalifornia, Kentucky and Vermont Health Exchange Security Flaws Placed Data...
An investigation conducted by the Government Accountability Office revealed “significant” cybersecurity vulnerabilities existed in all three state health exchanges studied: California, Kentucky, and...
View ArticleOptumRx and Einstein Health Network Inform Patients of Recent PHI Breaches
OptumRx is in the process of notifying patients about a breach of their Protected Health Information after an unencrypted laptop computer was stolen from one of its vendors. An employee of an unnamed...
View ArticleFlorida Department of Health Notifies Palm Beach County Patients of PHI Breach
The Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County has discovered approximately 1,000 patients have had their protected health information inappropriately disclosed, although at this stage little...
View ArticleBuffalo Medical Group Patients Notified of Alleged HIPAA Violation
When a HIPAA violation occurs, the covered entity is required to notify patients that their protected health information has been exposed. However, in a bizarre turn of events, a number of patients of...
View Article1400 Healthcare Organizations Notified of American College of Cardiology...
1,400 organizations have been notified that patient data supplied to the American College of Cardiology (ACC) via the national cardiovascular data registry has been inadvertently disclosed to a third...
View ArticleLawsuit Filed Against Facebook and Cancer Sites for Alleged HIPAA Violation
A lawsuit has been filed in Federal Court in San Jose, California by cancer patients who allege they have had their privacy violated after visiting the websites of cancer institutes. The plaintiffs...
View ArticleAtique Orthodontics Reports Potential Breach of Patient PHI
San Antonio-based Atique Orthodontics, P.A., has discovered an unauthorized person gained access to an office computer for a period of just over a month earlier this year. The unauthorized accessing of...
View ArticleVA Monthly Information Security Report Shows Fall in Breach Victims in March
The Department of Veteran Affairs has sent its monthly report to Congress detailing the information security incidents affecting VA facilities in March, 2016. 522 veterans were impacted by security...
View ArticleVendor Laptop Theft Exposes PHI of Alabama CVS Pharmacy Patients
The theft of a laptop computer from an unnamed vendor has exposed the protected health information of a number of Alabama CVS pharmacy patients. The data breach only affects certain patients who have...
View ArticleA Decade of Data Breaches: Healthcare Industry Data Breaches Have Exposed...
For more than a decade the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) has been keeping track of data breaches in the United States. The ITRC data breach list has been growing steadily over the years,...
View ArticleRaleigh Orthopaedic Clinic Settles for 750K for Lack of BAA
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has announced a settlement has been reached with Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic, P.A., of North Carolina over alleged violations...
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