As much as the person who stole and sold the information is wrong, the
organization who was collecting it and failed to adequately protect it from
being stolen is wrong.

Naturally, you make decisions to allow staff to have access to certain
information to allow them to do their jobs, but you have to have safeguards
in place that disallow downloading information and limit access to use
on-line only.

From the artivcle about this incident...  "“That the illegal sale of
personal information could be allowed to go on for that long strikes me as
an indication that the internal auditing practices of the hospital were
lacking,” Ms. Givens said."

And from the article about the earlier theft of the laptop... "Howard
officials announced the laptop theft in March, saying a contractor had
downloaded patients’ files onto a personal laptop in violation of both
hospital policy and federal rules."

And in response to BOTH incidents?.... “We regret this incident and we have
already put in new procedures to prevent similar violations in the future,”
Larry Warren, the hospital’s chief executive officer, said in announcing
the episode."

So the barn door has been closed following the departure of the prize
cow... now the question is, have others learned from this and what will the
penalty be for the hospital failing to follow HIPAA requirements in the
first place?

Larry

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On Thu, May 17, 2012 at 7:36 AM, Alice Young <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Why have the humans become so inhumane!  It's hard enough to have to be in
> the hospital or have lab work or test run, WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE THESE
> DAYS?!?!?!?!
>
> Just saying...
>
> Alice
>


-- 
*Lawrence J. Medina
Danville, CA
RIM Professional since 1972*

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