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Home2017

Year: 2017

Ransomware Attack in Hackensack Sleep and Pulmonary Center

December 29, 2017 Site Editor

A ransomware attack encrypted the protected health information of patients in the New Jersey-based Hackensack Sleep and Pulmonary Center. This incident took place on September 24, 2017 but it was only discovered the next day. […]

Why Should the Congress Pass the Data Security and Breach Notification Act?

December 28, 2017 Site Editor

There’s a proposed bill called the Data Security and Breach Notification Act that the Senate will vote on. The purpose of the bill is to standardize the requirements of breach notification across all states. Right […]

Which Government Agency Enforces HIPAA Rules?

December 27, 2017 Site Editor

Healthcare organizations are expected to follow the rules introduced by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The question is which federal departments are enforcing HIPAA rules? How can consumers make sure that covered […]

Clinic Worker Who Stole PHI Punished With Five-Year Jail Term

December 26, 2017 Site Editor

A clinic worker gets 5-year jail term for stealing the protected health information of Kirkbride Center’s mentally ill patients and selling them to identity thieves. Jean Baptiste Alvarez, age 43, a resident of Aldan, Philadelphia […]

Compromised Email Accounts Exposed 18,500 Patients PHI

December 23, 2017 Site Editor

A PHI breach occurred at the Henry Ford Health System based in Detroit which impacted about 18,500 patients. The organization became aware of the breach on October 3, 2017. According to the report, the email […]

What Can A Patient Do When There’s A Clear HIPAA Violation?

December 22, 2017 Site Editor

A patient cannot sue a healthcare provider for a HIPAA violation and seek damages even when harm resulted. But it is still possible to take legal action against the covered entity and demand damages for […]

Employees Filed a Lawsuit Against Lincare for Negligence in W2 Phishing Attack

December 21, 2017 Site Editor

Lincare Holdings Inc., one company supplying home respiratory therapy products, had a breach of employee personal data in February 2017. According to the report, an HR department employee emailed the W2 forms of thousands of […]

St. Luke’s Hospital Pays $387,000 to OCR for Disclosing Patient’s HIV Status to His Employer

December 20, 2017 Site Editor

Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Hospital settled a case with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights earlier this year. The 2014 case involved alleged HIPAA violations over an impermissible disclosure of […]

CareFirst Asks the Help of Supreme Court to Sort Out Data Breach Lawsuit

December 19, 2017 Site Editor

Hackers attacked the CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield database in 2014 and accessed the protected health information of 1.1 million members. The information exposed included names, birth dates, email addresses and subscriber ID numbers. Following the breach, […]

Healthcare Industry Got the Most Class Action Data Breach Lawsuits in 2016

December 18, 2017 Site Editor

The law firm Bryan Cave, LLP reported an increase in class-action data breach lawsuits faced by the healthcare industry last 2016. This doesn’t mean, however, that the litigation following a breach also increased. Bryan Cave […]

Burglars Stole the Medical Records of 1,000 Patients in New Jersey

December 16, 2017 Site Editor

Patients of Otolaryngology Associates of Central Jersey have been notified of a breach involving their protected health information. Burglars broke in an off-site storage facility of the organization and stole 13 boxes of paper medical […]

Ransomware Attacks Aging Agency Impacting 8,750 Patients

December 13, 2017 Site Editor

A ransomware attack on the Ottawa-based East Central Kansas Area Agency on Aging (ECKAAA) resulted in the file encryption of 8,750 patient’s protected health information (PHI). ECKAAA discovered the attack that happened on September 5, […]

Medical College of Wisconsin Phishing Attack Exposed 9,500 Patients’ PHI

December 10, 2017 Site Editor

A phishing attack on the Medical College of Wisconsin resulted in the potential exposure of protected health information of 9,500 patients. The attack enabled unauthorized access to several employees’ email accounts, which stored sensitive information […]

Volunteers Needed for HIPAA Administrative Simplification Optimization Project Pilot

December 8, 2017 Site Editor

The Department of Health and Human Services is seeking volunteers for a pilot project on HIPAA Administrative Simplification Optimization. The purpose of this project is to make HIPAA compliance reviews for health plans and healthcare […]

TJ Samson Community Hospital Discovers Unauthorized Access of 683 Patients’ PHI

December 8, 2017 Site Editor

Two independent care providers inappropriately accessed the healthcare data of 683 patients of TJ Samson Community Hospital in Glasgow, KY and TJ Health Columbia Clinic. The unauthorized access to patient PHI was discovered on August […]

Protenus Released November Healthcare Breach Barometer Report

November 25, 2017 Site Editor

The number of healthcare data breach incidents was particularly high in September. In the November 2017 healthcare Breach Barometer Report by Protenus, the number was more typical with 37 breach incidents in October. The data […]

Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Albany Recently Discovered That Malware Infected Their Server Since 2015

November 14, 2017 Site Editor

The Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Albany (CCDA) was upgrading its computer security software last August when the technician discovered a malware installed in one of its computer servers. Glen Falls office uses the […]

Lawnmower Engine Manufacturer Required to Comply With HIPAA Rules

November 7, 2017 Site Editor

Just because a firm does not provide healthcare services and does not operate in the field of healthcare, it doesn’t mean that it is not a HIPAA-covered entity. Briggs Stratton Corporation is a manufacturer of […]

FDA Recommends Sharing of Information Recorded in Medical Devices

November 6, 2017 Site Editor

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave an update of the guidelines that medical device manufacturers should follow when it comes to sharing information requested by patients. The medical devices that patients use can […]

What are the HIPAA Rules on Sharing PHI on Opioid Overdoses?

November 5, 2017 Site Editor

There has been confusion regarding HIPAA Rules on sharing patient information to others in case of opioid overdose. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights wanted to clarify the issues […]

Stolen Computers Potentially Exposed 8,000 Patients PHI

November 4, 2017 Site Editor

Brevard Physician Associates had a recent incident of burglary which resulted in the potential exposure of limited protected health information of about 8,000 patients. On the morning of September 4, 2017, thieves broke into the […]

PHI Theft Via Email Involved 932 Texas Children’s Health Plan Members

November 3, 2017 Site Editor

On September 21, 2017, Texas Children’s Health Plan discovered an incident of PHI theft via email involving the healthcare data of 932 members. Allegedly the PHI was emailed to a former employee’s personal email account […]

Threat Report Confirms Volume of Malicious Emails Soared in Q3

October 30, 2017 Site Editor

One of the major threats in keeping the confidentiality of healthcare data is phishing. If you have noticed, a number of news updates in the past weeks involved healthcare organizations announcing cases of unauthorized access […]

New WannaCry Ransomware Variant Attacks FirstHealth

October 27, 2017 Site Editor

FirstHealth of the Carolinas is a not for profit health network based in Pinehurst, SC that a new Wannacry ransomware variant attacked on October 17, 2017. In May this year, over 230,000 computers around the […]

1,300 PHI Potentially Exposed in RiverMend Health Email Breach

October 25, 2017 Site Editor

RiverMend Health is a specialty behavioral health services provider that helps people who have problems with alcohol and drug addiction. The RiverMend Health branch located in Augusta, GA discovered unauthorized access to the email account […]

Phishing Attack on Chase Brexton Health Care Potentially Impacts 16,500 PHI

October 24, 2017 Site Editor

Phishing is probably the biggest data security threat that healthcare organizations have to face today. In the past few weeks, several phishing attacks on healthcare organizations had been reported. One of which was really serious […]

Significant Increase in September Healthcare Data Breaches Exposed Almost 500,000 PHI

October 23, 2017 Site Editor

According to the Breach Barometer report issued by Protenus, healthcare data breaches significantly increased in September 2017. Included in the report were cases of healthcare data breaches received by the Department of Health and Human […]

Advanced Spine & Pain Center Breach Impacts 8,362 Patients PHI

October 21, 2017 Site Editor

Last July 31, 2017, Advanced Spine & Pain Center (ASPC) became aware of a potential breach and unauthorized use of patients’ protected health information. About 8,362 patients who might be affected by what happened got […]

HHS Issues Limited Waiver of HIPAA Sanctions and Penalties in California

October 20, 2017 Site Editor

There are certain times when the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services exercises his authority to issue a limited waiver of HIPAA sanctions and penalties. In most cases, the announcement is […]

What are the Important Points of the Personal Data Breach Notification Act?

October 19, 2017 Site Editor

Health organizations, covered entities and their business associates need to be familiar with the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule and must strictly comply. This rule covers the issuance of notifications to patients, plan members and the […]

Illinois Psychiatrist Reported for Exposing PHI of 10,500 Patients

October 17, 2017 Site Editor

A tenant named Barbara Jarvis-Neavins filed a report against Illinois-based psychiatrist Dr. Riaz Baber for mishandling the medical records of more than 10,000 patients.  Apparently, the psychiatrist rented out his property to Jarvis-Neavins who eventually […]

Unsecured Amazon S3 Bucket Exposed 47GB of Medical Records

October 15, 2017 Site Editor

Recently, there was an incident that a HIPAA-covered entity used an unsecured Amazon S3 bucket to store patients’ medical data. It was the researchers from Kromtech Security who discovered the cloud storage security problem. There were […]

Phishing Attack Impacts 51,000 Plan Members of Network Health

October 14, 2017 Site Editor

Network Health, a health insurance provider based in Wisconsin, recently informed its 51, 232 plan holders about the unauthorized access of their protected health information (PHI). According to the report, the security breach began in August […]

HHS Withdrew Proposed Rule for Certification of Compliance for CHPs

October 13, 2017 Site Editor

The HHS wanted to simplify the administrative process for getting certification of compliance for all controlling health plans (CHPs) and promote consistent testing processes for CHPs. However, their proposal for a new rule has been […]

What is the Internet of Medical Things Resilience Partnership Act?

October 12, 2017 Site Editor

Representatives Dave Trott (D-MI) and Susan Brooks (R-IN) introduced the Internet of Medical Things Resilience Partnership Act in the U.S. House of Representatives recently. With the increase in the number of medical devices and systems […]

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