A press release from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network: Soon the Internet may hold your medical record where you and your doctor can access it at all hours. Even if you are undergoing a complicated chemotherapy regimen, your computer may prompt you to follow doctor’s orders and, via a daily questionnaire, alert your doctor...
Michael Evans writes in the Globe and Mail: I don’t often quote George Bush, but he was right when he pointed out in a 2006 presidential discussion on health care that “doctors practice 21st-century medicine, but they still have 19th-century filing systems.” Patients often wonder, “How come the Instabank in Istanbul tells me exactly...
Jeremy Walsh writes in the Times Ledger: Officers responding to deal with David Tarloff, a mentally ill Corona resident accused of murdering a Manhattan therapist, may not have had access to Tarloff’s history with police or medical history in the months leading up to the slaying, police suggested during a City Council hearing. The...
In today’s Government Health IT Notebook, there is a statement by Deborah Peel, M.D., Founder and Chair of Patient Privacy Rights: The story last week on e-prescribing does not mention the elephant in the room: that every prescription in the nation has been...
On March 3, dialysis services providers DVA Renal Healthcare, Inc. notified the NH DOJ that a laptop stolen from an employee’s vehicle contained unencrypted personal information on current or former patients. Ann DesRuisseaux, DaVita’s Assistant General Counsel, did not indicate the date of the theft itself, saying only that the company “recently” discovered...
Stephen Bell Wellington writes in Computerworld: With the renewed focus on privacy in both New Zealand and Australia, Melbourne-based health software company TrakHealth has had to defend the approach it took to a public health patient-tracking system it recently developed for Brazil. The system will provide every Brazilian with an identifying number and plastic...
Kevin Barnes writes in the Croydon Guardian: A sensitive document detailing the treatments of premature babies at Mayday Hospital was discovered at a supermarket in Sutton. An investigation was ordered after a shopper stumbled on the highly confidential patient records while browsing a DVD rack at Morrisons. John Dunne, 61, discovered the names, dates...
Markian Hawryluk and Betsy Q. Cliff report in The Bulletin: A computer virus may have exposed to outside eyes the names, credit card numbers, dates of birth and home addresses of more than 11,500 individuals who donated to Cascade Healthcare Community, the parent company of St. Charles in Bend and Redmond. The virus penetrated...
Tom Kisken writes in the Ventura County Star: When identity theft happens in hospitals or medical offices, money may be the least of the victim’s worries. Often, the crimes involve an employee who has access to records and sells them, said. The buyers start cautiously. They...
An Op-Ed on Gazette.net by Gerald G. Stansbury of the Maryland State NAACP; June White Dillard of the Prince George’s Branch NAACP; and Cynthia Boersma of the ACLU of Maryland addresses proposed legislation in Maryland: Warrantless seizure of DNA from individuals who are arrested but not convicted of crimes is being considered in the...