$1.6 Million Settlement Agreed with Texas Department of Aging and Disability...
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has agreed to settle a HIPAA violation case with the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) to resolve HIPAA...
View ArticleConcerns Raised About the Sharing of Health Data with Non-HIPAA Covered...
Earlier this month, the eHealth Initiative Foundation and Manatt Health issued a brief that calls for the introduction of a values framework to better protect health information collected, stored, and...
View ArticleHealth Apps Share User Data but Lack Transparency About the Practice
Mobile health apps are commonly used to track health metrics and promote healthier lifestyles, and as such, they record a range of sensitive health information. What consumers may be unaware of is how...
View ArticleLawsuit Alleges Sharp Grossmont Hospital Secretly Recorded Patients Having...
A lawsuit has been filed against Sharp HealthCare and Sharp Grossmont Hospital which alleges the hospital secretly recorded video footage of female patients undressing and having gynaecological...
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Amazon Launches New System for De-identifying Medical Images
Amazon has announced that it has developed a new system that allows identifying protected health information contained in medical images to be automatically removed to prevent patients from being...
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OCR Issues Warning on Advanced Persistent Threats and Zero-Day Exploits
The HHS’ Office for Civil Rights has raised awareness of the risk of advanced persistent threats and zero-day exploits in its spring cybersecurity newsletter. Healthcare organizations are attractive...
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March 2019 Healthcare Data Breach Report
In March 2019, healthcare data breaches continued to be reported at a rate of one a day. 31 healthcare data breaches were reported to the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights by HIPAA-covered entities and...
View ArticleHealthcare Organizations Found Not to be In Conformance with NIST CSF and...
A recent study conducted by the consultancy firm CynergisTek has revealed healthcare organizations are not in conformance with NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) controls and the HIPAA Privacy and...
View ArticleWashington State University Settles Class Action Data Breach Lawsuit for $4.7...
A $4.7 million settlement has recently been approved by the King County Superior Court to reimburse individuals whose personal information was stolen from Washington State University in April 2017....
View ArticleNew Washington Breach Notification Law Unanimously Passed by Legislature
A new data breach notification law (HB 1071 / SB 5064) has been unanimously passed by the Washington legislature and awaits Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s signature. The law broadens the definition...
View ArticleMD Anderson Cancer Center Fires Three Scientists Over Concerns About Theft of...
MD Anderson Cancer Center, the world’s leading cancer research center, has recently fired three scientists with strong links to China over espionage fears after being alerted by the National institutes...
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The Most Common HIPAA Violations You Should Be Aware Of
The most common HIPAA violations that have resulted in financial penalties are the failure to perform an organization-wide risk analysis to identify risks to the confidentiality, integrity, and...
View ArticleFacebook Makes Changes to Health Support Groups to Better Protect Users’ Privacy
Facebook is making changes to Facebook Groups used to discuss health conditions. The move comes following criticism that Facebook Groups were being promoted as private and confidential when information...
View ArticleTouchstone Medical Imaging Fined $3 Million by OCR for Extensive HIPAA Failures
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has announced a settlement has been reached with the Franklin, TN-based diagnostic medical imaging services company,...
View ArticleKey Findings of the 2019 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report
Today sees the release of the 2019 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report. This is the 12th edition of report, which contains a comprehensive summary of data breaches reported by public and private...
View ArticleCMS and ONC Tell Senate HELP Committee Rapid Progress is Required to Advance...
The second Senate HELP Committee hearing on the proposed roles for implementing the electronic medical records provisions of the 21st Century Cures Act has taken place this week. The Committee heard...
View Article7 Month Delay Notifying HIV Study Participants About Exposure of their...
The sensitive information of 24 women diagnosed with HIV has been made available to individuals unauthorized to access that information. Despite the breach being discovered more than 7 months ago, the...
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April 2019 Healthcare Data Breach Report
April was the worst ever month for healthcare data breaches. More data breaches reported than any other month since the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights started...
View ArticleAAN Suggests Third Party App Security Framework Must be Included in the CMS...
The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) has voiced concerns about the interoperability plans of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the HHS’ Office of the National Coordinator for...
View ArticlePHI of 1.5 Million Individuals Exposed Online by Inmediata
In April, Inmediata, a provider of clearinghouse services to healthcare organizations, announced that the protected health information of certain patients had been exposed online as a result of a...
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