Attempts to notify patients of security breach not good enough, say CA lawmakers
HIPAA Weekly Advisor, November 8, 2004
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California lawmakers aren't happy with the Department of Social Services' (DSS) media advisory to notify more than a million home care patients that a hacker may have stolen their personal health information in August, according to ComputerWorld. They want DSS to individually notify each patient.
In a letter to Kim Belche, secretary of the state's Health and Human Services, the lawmakers criticized the media advisory, stating, "The advisory is not the most effective way to communicate with workers and affected elderly and disabled clients."
The advisory went to approximately 500 newspapers, television stations, and radio stations. DSS also set up a toll-free call line for patients to call, which has so far received fewer than 100 phone calls, ComputerWorld reported.
State Health and Human Service officials haven't ruled out individually notifying patients of the incident, but say that they must complete due diligence before they can move forward. Officials still don't even know whether the break in compromised any patient information.
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