Every practice manager has nightmares about HIPAA and the implementation thereof in his/her practice. The journey from paper to paperless medical records present more challenges. The insurance companies, and as related below in the Wall Street Journal Blog, share the same challenges.
Insurer Sends Patient Info to the Wrong People
Posted by Sarah Rubenstein
"Those worried patient-privacy advocates may have a point. In yet another example of the health industry mishandling private patient records, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia sent some 202,000 explanation of benefits letters to the wrong addresses last week, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
The letters, which were mistakenly directed to the addresses of other policyholders, included names and insurance identification numbers of patients as well as the names of the doctors and other medical providers they were using, the AJC reports. A small proportion of the letters also had Social Security numbers, a spokeswoman for the company told the paper.
Vulnerability to identity theft is one concern. But EOB letters are especially sensitive from a privacy standpoint because they contain some treatment information.
And this is one of a steady stream of mistakes by the health-care industry when it comes to protecting electronic data. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia told the AJC that a computer system change was to blame, and it’s taken steps to avoid the problem in the future."
Insurer Sends Patient Info to the Wrong People
Posted by Sarah Rubenstein
"Those worried patient-privacy advocates may have a point. In yet another example of the health industry mishandling private patient records, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia sent some 202,000 explanation of benefits letters to the wrong addresses last week, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
The letters, which were mistakenly directed to the addresses of other policyholders, included names and insurance identification numbers of patients as well as the names of the doctors and other medical providers they were using, the AJC reports. A small proportion of the letters also had Social Security numbers, a spokeswoman for the company told the paper.
Vulnerability to identity theft is one concern. But EOB letters are especially sensitive from a privacy standpoint because they contain some treatment information.
And this is one of a steady stream of mistakes by the health-care industry when it comes to protecting electronic data. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia told the AJC that a computer system change was to blame, and it’s taken steps to avoid the problem in the future."
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