Microchips for AIDS patients in eastern Indonesia

The situation described below really raises so many ethical, civil liberties, and privacy issues… Niniek Karmini and Irwan Firdaus of the Associated Press report: Lawmakers in Indonesia’s remote province of Papua have thrown their support behind a controversial bill requiring some HIV/AIDS patients to be implanted with microchips — part of extreme efforts to...

Microsoft, Google Joust—and Concur—On Personal Health Records

Chad Berndtson reports: They may be cutthroat competitors. But tried as their representatives did to explain the fundamental differences between two personal health record (PHR) platforms,Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and Google also may yet have some detente—at least when it comes to the like-minded goal of managing vast quantities of personal health information to benefit...

Study favors use of national health ID numbers for patients

The report says unique identifiers would reduce errors and protect privacy, but privacy watchdogs are not convinced. Read the story in AMNews The report on which the article is based is: “Identity Crisis: An Examination of the Costs and Benefits of a Unique Patient Identifier for the U.S. Health Care System,” RAND Health, October,...

CO: Identity theft traced back to hospital bill

The Children’s Hospital and a third-party billing contractor will warn as many as 1,000 families that their credit card information may have been compromised by a former employee. Aurora-based Revenue Enterprises recently terminated an employee that handled billing for The Children’s Hospital after it was discovered she used a family’s credit card to pay...

NC agency sells cabinet containing personal info

The Department of Health and Human Services says a man who bought a filing cabinet from the state agency got something extra: dozens of client files. Agency spokesman Mark Van Sciver told the News & Observer of Raleigh the buyer found 57 files in the file cabinet purchased last month from the Caswell Developmental...

UK: Patient notes – second slip-up

Alison Dayani reports: CONFIDENTIAL patient notes have been posted out to random strangers in a blunder by Birmingham mental health workers. An inquiry is under way into how the error happened – disclosing private details including medical history, National Health Service numbers, dates of birth and other information that could lead to identity fraud....

WA: Bags Of Personal Information Found Outside Doctors' Offices

David Quinlan reports: In the course of our four month investigation, we uncovered bags full of private patient information recklessly discarded in the trash right outside pharmacies and doctor’s offices. We even found syringes, urine samples, social security numbers and someone’s STD test results. Read more on KIRO 7

TX: Wanted man found with stolen personal information

Lacie Morrison reports: While serving warrants on a Mineral Wells resident, law enforcement officers recently recovered identifying information on more than 200 people apparently stolen from a medical records storage facility. The paperwork that was discovered with him, however, added an additional charge to the list. According to Mercer, the papers contained information...

Hospital fires up to 6 for accessing Pressly's files

Jacob Quinn Sanders reports: St. Vincent Health System fired as many as six employees last month for improperly accessing the records of Little Rock morning television anchor Anne Pressly while she was a patient at the company’s main hospital, the chief executive confirmed Wednesday morning. Banko declined to name the jobs the employees...

A third of healthcare professionals leave data security to chance

A transatlantic survey of more than a thousand healthcare professionals has shown that over a third are unwittingly putting personal information at risk by storing patient records, medical images, contact details, corporate data and other sensitive information on mobile devices such as laptops, BlackBerrys and USB sticks – and not adequately securing them. The...