Las Vegas hospital sued after huge patient ID theft

10-12-2014 Nevada, National:

A San Miguel County woman filed a lawsuit seeking class-action status against a Las Vegas, N.M., hospital and its parent company alleging the firm negligently allowed hackers to steal her personal information, along with that of millions of other patients nationwide.

The lawsuit alleges that the Tennessee-based parent company of Alta Vista Regional Hospital and five other New Mexico hospitals failed to properly protect and encrypt patient data, including Social Security numbers and possibly credit card numbers.

The company, Community Health Systems, Inc., reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in August that computer hackers in China bypassed the company’s security systems and stole data affecting some 4.5 million patients.

The theft likely occurred in April and June and included patient names, addresses, birth dates, telephone numbers and Social Security numbers, the company reported. Hackers did not obtain patient credit card information, the company told the SEC.

Are your medical records safe?

8-23-2014 National:

A decade ago, almost all doctors kept paper charts on every patient. That is changing quickly as laptops become as common as stethoscopes in exam rooms.

Recent hacking attacks have raised questions about how safe that data may be. Here are some frequently asked questions about this evolution underway in American medicine, and the government programs sparking the change.

Are my medical records stored electronically?

At least some of the information you share with your doctor or any hospital or clinic where you've been treated is probably stored on a computer. It's pretty common for most hospitals, clinics and doctors' offices to digitally store your basic information including your name, address and insurance company, the same way many retailers do.

Health care outlets pay $4.8 million after 6,800 patient records leak on the web

5-10-2014 National:

Want to know why health care institutions can be antsy about making their patient data available online? Here's why: Columbia University and the New York and Presbyterian Hospital have paid a total of $4.8 million to settle charges (Data breach results in $4.8 million HIPAA settlements) after they inadvertently leaked the records of 6,800 patients to the web in 2010.

The organizations allegedly didn't do enough to identify systems that had sensitive info, leaving them unprepared when a physician switched off a personal server that was keeping the records private. Both outlets are overhauling their policies in the wake of the settlement, so a repeat incident is less likely.

Still, the breach is a not-so-friendly reminder that there are big risks to putting medical histories on networked computers -- your data is only as safe as the system it's on. ..Source.. by Jon Fingas