Archive for the ‘PHI’ Category

People care about the security of their patient data

Saturday, December 12th, 2015

How well do you think your patient data, wherever it is located, is being secured? How well do you think your healthcare providers (doctors, nurses, hospitals, clinics, etc.) and health insurance companies are securing your patient information?

The fact is, with the increasing occurrences of patient data breaches, and more use of patient data for purposes beyond the provision of healthcare, most people are worried about patient data security. (more…)

TV Ratings Should Not Trump Patient Privacy

Saturday, January 3rd, 2015

Yesterday I read a news story about how a woman, Mrs. Anita Chanko, saw an episode of the Dr. Oz show “NY Med” that included video of her husband, who had died 16 months earlier, in the hospital receiving care after being hit by a truck while crossing the street. She did not know that such a video even existed.

The picture was blurred, but the woman knew it was her recently deceased husband because she recognized his voice when he spoke, the conversation topic, the hospital where the care was occurring, along with other visual indicators. She heard her husband ask about his wife; her. She then watched his last moments of life, and then his death on television. (more…)

This is Protected Health Information

Thursday, December 18th, 2014

Once or twice a week I get a question from an organization that is considered to be a healthcare covered entity (CE) or business associate (BA) under HIPAA (a U.S. regulation) asking about the types of information that is considered to be protected health information (PHI). Last week a medical devices manufacturer, that is also a BA, asked about this. I think it is a good time to post about this topic again.

If information can be (more…)

The PHI PII Egg Hunt

Saturday, March 30th, 2013

Locate it to protect it

I love speaking with folks about privacy, information security and compliance.  I am sincerely interested in hearing about their challenges, and then also identifying common challenges amongst them all.  We can then get to solutions. 

One of the consistently common challenges I’ve heard from privacy and security folks in the past several months is trying to (more…)