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Tag: hipaa

  • 94% of CDOs See Privacy Technology Leading to Increased Revenue

    94% of CDOs See Privacy Technology Leading to Increased Revenue

    While many companies have built businesses profiting on consumer data, 94% of CDOs see a prime opportunity in privacy tech.

    TripleBlind conducted a survey of 150 chief data officers (CDOs), as well as other executives in the healthcare and financial services industries. Interestingly, some 94% believe that deploying data privacy tech will lead to increased revenue for their organizations, especially tech that enforces privacy regulations. In addition, 37% believe improved collaboration could increase revenue up to 20%, while 46% believe they could gain a competitive advantage through increased data collaboration.

    TripleBlind’s survey also shed light on exactly what CDOs are concerned about.

    • 64% are concerned that employees at partner organizations may not abide by legal agreements regarding the use of data.
    • 60% are concerned that employees at partner organizations will violate HIPPA laws and/or privacy regulations.
    • 60% are concerned that privacy-enhancing technology (PET) used by partner organizations may modify data in a way that hinders analysis.

    “There is strong agreement that optimizing effective data collaboration through advanced PET solutions will result in both increased revenues and enhanced competitive advantage,” said Riddhiman Das, TripleBlind’s Co-founder and CEO. “Today, advanced PET solutions exist that render legal agreements obsolete and prevent people at both the data user and data owner from using data in a way that violates HIPAA and other data privacy regulations or modifies data in a way that results in inaccurate analyses.”

    The findings stand in stark contradiction to some companies’ claim that stricter privacy standards will lead to increased costs and decreased profits.

  • FTC Will Require Health Apps to Notify Users of Data Breaches

    FTC Will Require Health Apps to Notify Users of Data Breaches

    The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has updated its guidance for health apps, requiring them to notify users of data breaches impacting them.

    Smartphones and smartwatches are increasingly being used to help monitor users’ health and activity, while a plethora of apps access and use that data. The FTC is offering new guidance for these apps, in an effort to hold them to the same standards as companies specializing in health records.

    The FTC’s Health Breach Notification Rule helps to ensure that entities who are not covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) nevertheless face accountability when consumers’ sensitive health information is compromised. Under the Rule’s requirements, vendors of personal health records (“PHR”) and PHR-related entities must notify U.S. consumers and the FTC, and, in some cases, the media, if there has been a breach of unsecured identifiable health information, or face civil penalties for violations. The Rule also covers service providers to these entities. In practical terms, this means that entities covered by the Rule who have experienced breaches cannot conceal this fact from those who have entrusted them with sensitive health information.

    The Rule was issued more than a decade ago, but the explosion in health apps and connected devices makes its requirements with respect to them more important than ever. The FTC has advised mobile health apps to examine their obligations under the Rule,2 including through the use of an interactive tool.3 Yet the FTC has never enforced the Rule, and many appear to misunderstand its requirements. This Policy Statement serves to clarify the scope of the Rule, and place entities on notice of their ongoing obligation to come clean about breaches.

    The new guidance will likely have a major impact on the booming health app market and better protect users and their privacy.

  • Ebola Infected Doctor Arrives in Atlanta

    On Saturday Dr. Kent Brantly, 33, became the first person with the Ebola virus to ever be transported onto U.S. soil.

    In a coordinated effort between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. State Department, Brantly was flown from Monrovia, Liberia to Atlanta, where a treatment team was ready for him at Emory University Hospital.

    In a case that has blown all Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act laws out of the water, Brantly arrived in a private jet converted into an “air ambulance” at an airfield outside Atlanta at roughly 11:20 a.m. EDT. According to the flight crew, Brantly was “extremely stable” throughout the trip. The doctor was then taken to Emory by ambulance, where footage from a news helicopter recorded two people in biohazard suits slowly walking into the hospital. One was thought to be Brantly.

    Brantly and missionary Nancy Writebol, who likewise contracted Ebola, are both affiliated with the North Carolina-based Christian relief groups Samaritan’s Purse and SIM. Writebol is expected to be moved to Emory within the coming days.

    Here is a clip describing the Aeromedical Biological Containment System installed inside the modified Gulf Stream jet used to transport Dr. Brantly:

    Amber Brantly, the doctor’s wife, said in a statement issued through Samaritan’s Purse, “It was a relief to welcome Kent home today. I spoke with him, and he is glad to be back in the U.S. – I am thankful to God for his safe transport and for giving him the strength to walk into the hospital.”

    The Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria is the largest recorded in history, and the disease has a mortality rate of roughly 68 percent. So far, the outbreak has taken over 700 lives, and a vaccination is years away. Yet, the National Institutes of Health is set to begin testing an experimental Ebola vaccine on human subjects in mid-September.

    A representative from Emory said in a statement, “Ebola does not pose a significant risk to the U.S. public.”

    Image via YouTube

  • Hospital Leaked Patient’s Syphilis Diagnosis on Facebook, Claims Lawsuit

    I’d imagine that being told you have an STD isn’t pleasant, but I’m pretty sure that it would be twice as awful if that news was made public – plastered all over Facebook, for instance.

    That’s what one Cincinnati woman is alleging in a new lawsuit.

    She claims that University of Cincinnati Medical Center employees posted a photo of her medical records on Facebook, to a group called “Team No Hoes.”

    Apparently, the photo not only contained her name and other personal information, but also displayed the fact that she had been diagnosed with syphilis.

    Yikes.

    “She was absolutely devastated. That is the most private of private medical information that was posted on Facebook and went out to a group on Facebook that had a huge dissemination,” Allen said. “For an employee of the University of Cincinnati Medical Center to post that information on a social media device that millions of people have access to, it’s above and beyond the law and that’s why we feel that they’re responsible,” the woman’s attorney told WLWT.

    The suit not only name UC Medical center as a defendant, but also a hospital employee, a nurse, and the woman’s ex-boyfriend, who she claims masterminded the leak.

    UC Medical Center would only comment that they haven’t yet received a copy of the suit and even if they had, they can’t comment on pending litigation.

    The victim is seeking more than $25,000 in damages.

    No word on any internal actions taken against the employees named in the suit, but I assume they’ll be canned faster than you can say Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons