Wyoming Considers Repealing Hospital Records Act
Wyoming is considering repealing the Hospital Records Act of 1991, an act that was introduced to ensure the privacy of patient information was protected. The law was enacted before the Health Insurance...
View ArticleOCR Settles Cottage Health HIPAA Violation Case for $3 Million
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has agreed to settle a HIPAA violation case with the Santa Barbara, CA-based healthcare provider Cottage Health for...
View Article2019 Data Breach Barometer Report Shows Massive Increase in Exposed...
Protenus has released its 2019 Breach Barometer report: An analysis of healthcare data breaches reported in 2018. The data for the report came from Databreaches.net, which tracks data breaches reported...
View ArticleFacebook Accused of Privacy Violations and Exposure of Sensitive Health...
A complaint has been filed with the FTC over misleading practices by Facebook. The complaint alleges health information disclosed in closed, supposedly anonymous and private Facebook groups has been...
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January 2019 Healthcare Data Breach Report
After a relatively quiet month for healthcare data breaches, breach numbers rose to more typical levels and were reported at a rate of more than one per day. There were 33 healthcare data breaches...
View ArticleNHS to Phase Out Pagers by End of 2021
The National Health Service (NHS) has commissioned a report on the costs of pagers and the extent of their use in NHS Trusts in the UK. The study revealed around 130,000 pagers are used in NHS Trusts –...
View ArticleNew York State Departments Investigate Facebook Over Health Data Sharing...
A recent analysis of Facebook’s data collection practices has revealed sensitive health data is obtained by Facebook from third party apps, even if the user has not logged in via Facebook or does not...
View ArticleNew Cybersecurity Requirements for Ohio Health Insurers
From March 20, 2019, insurance companies in Ohio will be subject to a new law (Senate Bill 273) that requires them to develop and implement a written information security program to safeguard business...
View ArticleHealthcare Associations Call for Safe Harbor for Breached Entities That Have...
Several healthcare associations have requested a safe harbor for healthcare organizations that would prevent OCR and state attorneys general from issuing financial penalties for breaches of protected...
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Senator Demands Answers from Government Agencies and Healthcare Associations...
Senator Mark Warner (D-Va) has written letters to leaders of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services...
View ArticleNew HIPAA Regulations in 2019
While there were expected to be some 2018 HIPAA updates, the wheels of change move slowly. OCR has been considering HIPAA updates in 2018 although it is likely to take until the middle of 2019 before...
View ArticleNevada Senator Proposes New Federal Data Privacy Act
Nevada Senator Catherine Cortex Masto, (D-NV) has introduced a bill – the Data Privacy Act – which calls for greater accountability and transparency for data collection practices, improved privacy...
View ArticleIRS Issues Warning About Tax-Related Phishing Scams
The IRS has launched its 2019 ‘Dirty Dozen’ campaign warning taxpayers about the most common tax-related phishing scams that lead to tax fraud and identity theft. Each year the IRS provides taxpayers,...
View Article25% of Healthcare Organizations Have Experienced a Mobile Security Breach in...
Implementing technical safeguards to prevent the exposure of electronic protected health information is a major challenge in healthcare, especially when it comes to securing mobile devices. According...
View ArticleLawmakers Propose Florida Biometric Information Privacy Act
Senator Gary Farmer (D-FL) and Representative Bobby DuBose (D-FL) have proposed new bills (SB 1270 /HB 1153) that require all private entities to obtain written consent from consumers prior to...
View ArticleHIPAA Compliant Online Forms
Web forms offer healthcare organizations an easy way to digitally collect information from patients, but care must be taken not to violate HIPAA Rules. To collect any health data, HIPAA compliant...
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February 2019 Healthcare Data Breach Report
Healthcare data breaches continued to be reported at a rate of more than one a day in February. February saw 32 healthcare data breaches reported, one fewer than January. The number of reported...
View ArticleCritical Vulnerability Affects Medtronic CareLink Monitors, Programmers, and...
Two vulnerabilities have been identified in the Conexus telemetry protocol used by Medtronic MyCarelink monitors, CareLink monitors, CareLink 2090 programmers, and 17 implanted cardiac devices. Both...
View ArticleConcerns Raised with FDA over Medical Device Security Guidance
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is reviewing feedback on the guidance for medical device manufacturers issued in October 2018. Comments have been submitted on the guidance, Content of...
View ArticleD.C. Attorney General Proposes Tougher Breach Notification Laws
Washington D.C. Attorney General Karl. A. Racine is looking to strengthen data breach notification laws to provide greater protection for D.C. residents when their personal information is exposed in a...
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