UK considers prosecuting physicians for losing laptops containing patient data
HIPAA Weekly Advisor, November 26, 2007
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to HIPAA Weekly Advisor!
UK's Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, has advised the House of Lord (one of the two houses in UK's Parliament) Constitution Committee to prosecute blatant noncompliance with data protection laws, according to a November 15 article in the UK's Times Online.
"If a doctor, or hospital [employee] leaves a laptop containing patients' records in his car and it is stolen, it is hard to see that is anything but gross negligence," and could therefore result in criminal penalties for the healthcare worker, says Thomas, according to the article.
Thomas also noted that those in possession of personal data should understand their options for encrypting the information, according to the Times Online.
For more information, click here.
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to HIPAA Weekly Advisor!
Related Products
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Catch up on what's new with injections and infusions
- Identify potential Medicaid RAC target areas
- HIPAA Q&A: Level of encryption needed for email
- Topic: CMS, OESS post new security compliance review information, checklist
- Capturing all necessary codes for IUD insertion and removal can be challenging
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- QA:Coding multiple initial infusions
- E-mailed
-
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- HIPAA Q&A: Level of encryption needed for email
- Q&A: Follow CMS' coding guidelines when using modifier -25
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- Catch up on what's new with injections and infusions
- CMS has reformulated payments for some bilateral procedures
- New conflicts of interest create new challenges
- Q/A. One injection code or two?
- ED-to-inpatient transfers are flawed with safety gaps
- Searched