Hackers are wreaking havoc on hospitals across the country with “ransomware” that locks up institutions’ computer systems until they pay off the miscreants. These high-profile incidents are just part of broader hacker attacks aimed at getting valuable patient information, experts say. The latest incident targeted 10 hospitals serving hundreds of thousands of patients in the….
Continue ReadingMedical Records
As corporations step up health care activity, it’s time to be wary
Just how much do you trust big companies, including the one you work for, with your health information? That issue may become increasingly important as employers campaign to help themselves and their employees by banding together to curb health care costs. It also may matter more as enterprises quietly and largely out of sight data-mine….
Continue ReadingMaking it easier to get your own medical records
Getting a copy of your own medical records is supposed to be easy and inexpensive. It also can be essential for ensuring the best medical care. But many hospitals and doctors have made it difficult and pricey, and the federal government is now doing something to help patients. Anyone with any kind of serious medical….
Continue ReadingU.S. must crack down on small but hugely painful patient privacy breaches
Although Americans may live in dread about large-scale data breaches by big corporations, instances in which health care personnel inappropriately peek and tell information from patients’ private medical records can be equally daunting and destructive, a fine, recent journalistic dissection discloses. As ProPublica reporter Charles Ornstein also finds, it may take lawsuits and the civil….
Continue ReadingAre electronic medical health records an epic fail or a maturing technology?
For patients, few aspects of their interactions with their care-givers can be more frustrating than the repetition of medical histories, medications, tests taken, and procedures undergone. This process also can be time-consuming and costly, especially when physicians, in an abundance of caution, re-order tests or procedures because they can’t be sure if they were done….
Continue ReadingYep, There’s a Billing Code for That
If you think you’re waiting even longer at your doctor’s office these days, you might be right. And it might be due to the overhaul of the medical billing code system that requires providers to enter an alphanumeric descriptor/diagnosis for every problem they treat. As of this month, doctors, hospitals and health insurers must use….
Continue ReadingProtect Yourself Against Medical ID Theft
Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal published an unnerving story about what can happen to your sense of security, not to mention your actual financial security, when someone steals your medical information. “How Identity Theft Sticks YouWith Hospital Bills” (behind The Journal’s paywall) makes clear that medical identity theft is a fast-growing crime thanks….
Continue ReadingDoctor Challenges Drug Database Monitors on Privacy Grounds
The epidemic of accidental deaths due to overdosing on opioid medicines has been well-documented. The perils of chronic pain management are the subject of Patrick’s patient safety newsletter this month. One way authorities are dealing with the problem is via a database of controlled drug use, so that practitioners and pharmacists can see if patients….
Continue ReadingMaking Health Data Trackers Reliable Monitors of Reality
Fitness freaks and gadget lovers have long embraced health apps, and more medical facilities and practitioners also are starting to see the clinical usefulness of reliably tracking individual patients’ data. As a recent story by the Associated Press (AP) made clear, medical providers see great potential in the technology, but also limitations in its current….
Continue ReadingFew Consequences Result When Health Data Is Breached
A recent investigation by ProPublica.org shows not only that the medical community regularly abuses patient privacy, but that the responsible parties are seldom punished. Since October 2009, more than 1,140 significant breaches of patient data have been reported by providers, organizations and their third-party associates. The information involved more than 41 million people, and pilfered….
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