Last month, I reported that the Office for Civil Rights had posted a list of covered entities with privacy breaches affecting more than 500 patients. The list is part of the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) new obligations under HITECH. Well, it looks like they're keeping the log up-to-date. I was tipped off by PHIprivacy.net that ...

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 ...

The images are abundant; visual accounts of makeshift hospitals, open wounds and resilient patients. And it's not just on news networks. Ordinary doctors and nurses, upon returning from Haiti, are posting photos and videos on Facebook, Flickr and other content-sharing sites. It's an effective and jarring way to show how much help is needed, but I ...

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 ...

If you're on Facebook, you may have heard about the new privacy changes that have members and watchdog organizations crying foul. The new settings allow for greater customization and granularity (you can specify an appropriate audience for each individual post you make), but many of the fields default to public view. And hence the problem-users ...

(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 ...

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 ...

There's been quite a buzz at ADVANCE headquarters about the television phenomena ''Nurse Jackie'' and ''HawthoRNe.'' Staffers wonder: is it realistic, do nurses approve of the portrayal and--at least around the HIM desk--how many HIPAA violations can they pack into one episode? If the writers are anything like the ''Law and Order'' crew and want ...

[Editor's note: This is a guest blog by ADVANCE for Nurses editor Lyn A.E. McCafferty, who contributes to the ''ADVANCE Perspective: Nurses'' blog featured on the ADVANCE for Nurses Web site.]   If you think the fictional Nurse Jackie and HawthoRNe are bad for nursing's image, just wait until you hear about one real-life nurse ...

I had a feeling when the Octomom story hit the wire and all the details spilled out that someone would be caught sneaking a peek at her medical records. Sure enough, 15 workers were fired for looking at the records of Nadya Suleman without permission. The titles of the fired employees weren't released, so we don't know what departments they ...