In an April 20 press release, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) announced that it discovered a breach of patient information, which resulted when a document sent to an individual outside of UAMS for analysis of billing charges was not properly de-identified. A UAMS physician sent financial data to an individual who was not ...

If you attended the 2012 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition, held in Las Vegas at the Venetian Sands Expo Center from Feb. 20-24, you were part of a record-breaking event. As of Friday morning, attendance at HIMSS12 reached 37,032 attendees, surpassing the HIMSS11 attendance figure of 31,500 attendees. They participated in more than 300 ...

For the first time in years, information technology (IT) leaders at healthcare organizations did not identify a lack of financial support for IT as an obstacle to implementation. So what's the problem? According to the 23rd Annual HIMSS Leadership Survey, released on Tuesday, one-quarter of respondents said adequate staffing resources within their ...

The Association of Health Information Outsourcing Services (AHIOS) announced the establishment of an internal Executive Committee comprising five of its senior executives. The AHIOS Executive Committee will be responsible for ensuring the swift dissemination of critical industry news and legislation in between regularly scheduled AHIOS meetings. ...

With patients across the country voicing a growing desire for greater engagement in and control over their medical care, a new study involving patients in Boston, Pennsylvania and Seattle will examine the impact of letting patients see the notes that doctors record during and after their visit. Funded through a $1.4 million grant from the ...

(Editor's note: The following is a message from Dr. David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, posted on May 14, 2010.) Private and secure health information exchange enables information to follow the patient when and where it is needed for better care. The Federal government is working to enable a wide range ...

With all the recent talk about privacy and security changes in the HITECH Act, you'd think: 1) People would finally learn it's spelled ''HIPAA,'' not ''HIPPA''; and 2) Facilities would stop being so careless. Not the case. Misguided ''HIPPA'' use still abounds and, even more disconcerting, some organizations can't seem to lock a strategy down. ...

In another HITECH milestone, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has posted a list of covered entities (CEs) that reported breaches affecting 500 or more individuals. The list, available to the public via OCR's Web site, fulfills an obligation outlined in last year's HITECH Act. CEs have been required to report such breaches since last ...

It's Friday--time to catch up on the news. I was hoping to share a delightful health-related story with you, but there were too many good ones, and who am I to single out? So, on to a list we go; I'll leave it up to you to pick and prune according to your preferences. CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen explores record access issues ...

While researching for my encryption article, ''Are You Secured?'' I was struck by what I would consider a loophole in the breach notification rules. According to the new regulations, when a security breach or theft occurs, the covered entity or business associate must inform the affected patients. If more than 500 people are affected, the ...