Patients Don’t Trust EHR, Survey Says

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Experts emphasize balance between patient care and privacy. Personal health data is less secure now than it was a year ago, according to a recent online survey by nCircle, an IT solutions provider. Almost half of the 257 people who participated in the survey said they are anxious about the fact that multiple partners of their health care providers (i.e., such as EHR vendors and insurers) have access to personal electronic information — increasing the risk of security breaches.

HHS Online Data Breach List Thrives

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

0 Comments

Many reported cases involve electronic systems, but paper records are still a security threat. Theft, loss, unauthorized access, or hacking. Whatever the breach is, HHS encourages people to turn to their computers and report it online. HHS then reports the specifics of breaches of security that affect 500 or more individuals. Presently, 64 cases are posted online, which allegedly affected about 1.2 million individuals.

How the Threat of PHI Breaches Decreases Quality of Care

Thursday, March 25, 2010

0 Comments

Plus, your chance to ‘eavesdrop’ on security breaches among healthcare providers across the nation. Any health information professional who uncritically sings the praises of electronic health records should check out this psychiatrist’s op ed piece in The Wall Street Journal. EHRs have the potential to actually decrease quality of care “if patients fear sharing information with their doctors because they know it isn’t private,” writes Dr. Deborah Peel, a practicing psychiatrist who’s the founder of Patient Privacy Rights. “When patients realize they can’t control who sees their electronic health records, they will be far less likely to tell their doctors about drinking problems, feelings of depression, or exposure to sexually transmitted diseases.” And there’s ample evidence that patients already doubt that their medical records are private and secure, despite those long HIPAA forms they routinely sign in doctors’ offices. For example, fifty-nine percent of…

Cost of Security Breaches Continues to Escalate

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

0 Comments

Surprise! Stuff on a middle manager’s laptop is more valuable than stuff on a CEO’s. Yet another health care company made the news recently with a stolen laptop: A local Florida paper reported on Feb. 15, 2010 that two laptops stolen from AvMed Health Plans’ corporate office in Gainesville, FL contained personal information — including PHI — of over 200,000 people. Studies show that security breach incidents are costing companies — including health care providers and plans – more and more money, as well as customers. In the AvMed case, the data was not protected properly, according to a statement by AvMed, which began notifying affected patients in early February of the breach, which occurred in late December.

Shore Up Your HIPAA Compliance Before Enforcement Storm Hits This Year

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

0 Comments

Tip: You’re not off the hook if the breach is your vendor’s fault. Using electronic health records may cut costs and reduce errors, but they also can increase your compliance risks — and scrutiny from the feds. Wake-up call: You are accountable for compliance even if a third party installs and maintains your records system. Providers will still be responsible for ensuring the same privacy protections as if they did have their own IT department, points out Jim Sheldon-Dean with Lewis Creek Systems in Charlotte, Vt.

Hospitals Find New HIT Issues in OIG’s 2010 Work Plan

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

0 Comments

Watch out. If your hospital breaches 1,000 records, you face a whopping $282,000 fine. Hospitals that read the HHS OIG’s 2010 Work Plan carefully will find an important clue about how to handle health information technology in the future. And it’s buried in a very real and present threat, so read on to find out how to not only avoid penalties from CMS in the present but also prepare for ARRA’s “meaningful use” requirement, which CMS announced on Dec. 30 will be tied to quality data. Reporting quality data and portable device compliance under HIPAA are two hot areas for hospitals in 2010, according to Jim Sheldon-Dean, director of compliance services at Lewis Creek Systems, who gave a recent audio presentation titled “OIG 2010 Work Plan for Hospitals.” And that makes sense, given CMS’s…

Got Remote Employees? Get These PHI Safeguards

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

0 Comments

Health system puts over a million records at risk. If you’ve been putting privacy compliance on the back burner, it’s time to bring it up front again. Investigators are paying attention, and you should, too. Last year, for example, officials of a health system in Connecticut announced that an unencrypted hard drive with about 1.5 million patients’ information on it was stolen, potentially subjecting that protected health information (PHI) to abuse. Stories like this are certainly eyecatching — and add to that the new focus in privacy with the introduction of the HITECH act — and you can be sure that patient privacy is gearing up to take center stage. And with employees taking work home and bringing laptops or cell phones with them to the office, you should be sure that your office’s security is tight. Next: Practical encryption tips …

HIT Cool Tool: Help Staffers Combat PHI Security Breaches

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

0 Comments

Train your health care staff with this checklist of 10 security incident warning signs. Would you bank on your staff’s ability to spot a security violation? Don’t gamble with your compliance program — use this list to help your staff see through security scams. You Could Be Experiencing A Security Incident If: • your application’s response time slows down significantly. • your passwords stop working. • a messages pops up asking for your personal information. • someone tries to coerce you into giving over your login information.

Stolen BCBS Laptop Miffs Connecticut Attorney General

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

0 Comments

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield did not follow PHI breach notification procedures, AG charges. What began as a personal laptop stolen from a one of three cars parked in a Chicago neighborhood on August 25 has become a provider and public relations nightmare for Anthem Blue Cross Blue Cross Blue Shield. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal wants to know why some Connecticut providers weren’t notified about the possible security breach until recently, reports The Connecticut Post. The AG also criticized Anthem BCBS for offering only one year’s credit monitoring and insurance to those whose PHI might have been leaked in the breach. Anthem has since extended credit protection to two years. So what happened in the first place?

Healthcare IT Update

Tag Archive | "breach"