From WTN News: On a voice vote, the State Senate has passed a bill that would pave the way for the electronic exchange of patient data between different health systems and facilities. The measure, Senate Bill 487, was immediately sent to the State Assembly, where its companion bill, AB 793, is expected to pass...
Business journalist Dana Blankenhorn writes on ZDNet: Just two weeks ago the World Privacy Forum, ironically also based in San Diego, came out with two warnings about Personal Health Records (PHRs) which made them appear to be a tragedy waiting to happen. PHRs, once placed online, are not covered by HIPAA, the forum...
Although I do not include them in the chronologies of medical privacy breaches available on this site, I do note medical privacy breaches in other countries. Two more reports out of the U.K. this morning are noteworthy. The first involves the Telford & Wrekin Primary Care Trust: A laptop with confidential information about more...
Mason Adams and Michael Sluss write in The Roanoke Times: The General Assembly voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a package of bills intended to reform Virginia’s mental health system and fill long-neglected gaps exposed by April’s shootings at Virginia Tech. The legislation would ease Virginia’s standard for involuntary commitment and improve monitoring of...
Meagan Sexton writes: The Illinois House on Tuesday rejected legislation that would repeal the state’s Communicable Disease Prevention Act, which requires students to report their HIV status to principals. The legislation attracted 43 “yes†votes and 62 “no†votes. House Bill 4314 was an attempt to repeal the existing law that permits a school...
People who were adopted would have access to their original birth certificate under a bill that’s been introduced to the Minnesota legislature. The access would allow people who were adopted to find out the names of their birth parents. The bill is facing opposition by some adoption agencies, because some birth parents may not...
Keith Darcé writes in the Union-Tribune: After being diagnosed with Lyme disease, former Amazon.com senior executive Keith Schorsch wanted to find others dealing with the illness, and he thought the Internet could help him make those connections. The experience led to the recent launch of Trusera, a Web site that lets people record and...
Five doctors organizations have launched a Web site and campaign designed to persuade physicians to switch from paper-based prescriptions of medications to electronic prescribing. The Get Connected campaign, along with the GetRxConnected.com Web site, are focused on helping doctors move from prescriptions written on paper pads or entered into a computer and faxed to...
Since we’re all so excited at the prospect of putting medical records online, can we talk, for a moment, about security? A techie friend of mine told me recently about a nefarious site that somehow manages to mimic whatever site you think you’re going to — a shadow jcrew.com, for example, or a shadow...
A new survey shows that 96 percent of health information technology (HIT)Â executives think it is important to have a uniform way for verifying the security of sensitive healthcare information, and 85 percent think it is time for the industry to come together and develop a comprehensive framework that can provide that uniformity. The...