At the request of several Members of Congress, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is further delaying enforcement of the ''Red Flags'' Rule through Dec. 31, 2010, while Congress considers legislation that would affect the scope of entities covered by the rule. ''Congress needs to fix the unintended consequences of the legislation establishing the ...

The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) submitted comments this week to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in response to the request for information, ''HIPAA Privacy Rule Accounting of Disclosures Under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act; Request for ...

What a week it's been for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Aside from celebrating the first anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), officials introduced several new comrades to the public. On Feb. 17, Joy Pritts was named chief privacy officer in the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health ...

Patients who received an H1N1 or seasonal flu shot at a Durham, Ontario, clinic are facing unexpected side effects from their visit. But it doesn't have anything to do with the vaccine. More than 80,000 patients are at risk for medical identity theft after an employee lost a USB drive containing flu clinic records, including patient ...

(Editor's note: The following blog was written by Mark McGraw, an associate editor on staff at ADVANCE.) It's movie night, and you're not interested in subtitles or surrealism. Maybe next week you'll go for the one with the ''Winner: Best Foreign Language Film, 2008 Venice Film Festival'' sticker on it. But tonight you're in the mood for a ...

If you've been following Jay's blog, ''XY Files in and MT World,'' recently, you know there have been some frightening reports of medical records being sold overseas. It's enough to make you hunker down in the States and demand your records stay local. On the contrary, some patients are ditching domestic services and seeking medical care abroad. ...

With all the prep for next week's American Health Information Management Association Convention and Exhibit and our HIM Team of the Year coverage (Yes, we have a winner!), I've been neglecting my Google Alerts. Well, I found some time this morning to browse the news on electronic health records (EHRs), and there's a whole lot of good, bad and ...

The headline screams, ''Across USA, Anxiety Over Access to Patient Records.'' It grabbed my attention, and I found it to be an interesting read. It seems that back in 2006, USA Today set up a patient safety Web site to give readers a venue to express concerns about inadequate medical care. Readers can send in their own stories, including anything ...