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Security breaches threaten privacy of hundreds of thousands of patients nationwide
Published May 2008
Hackers aren’t the problem—the main threat to protecting the privacy of computerized patient information lies within the healthcare industry itself, according to an April 29 article in The Wall Street Journal.
Recent security lapses at hospitals, health insurers, and the federal government have compromised the records of hundreds of thousands of patients containing information such as Social Security numbers, information about infertility treatment, and cancer records, the newspaper reported. Theft of laptop computers, failure to encrypt data, and employee mistakes and misconduct are among the causes.
Security breaches have occurred at the National Institutes of Health, WellCare Health Plans, Inc., WellPoint, Inc., the UCLA Hospital System, New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System, and Central Florida Regional Hospital, according to the article.
"What patient is going to want their data to be transmitted electronically if they can't trust the system to keep their data safe?" asks Jill Dennis, a senior vice president of the American Health Information Management Association.
Click here to read The Wall Street Journal article.
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