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Stealing paper records or electronic media was the most common type of data breach in healthcare in 2010, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) "Annual Report to Congress on Breaches of Unsecured Protected Health Information." Losing the records or media was the second most common incident.
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Can hospitals see a 90% reduction in mislabeled specimens within 90 days? Some hospitals in South Carolina have, and others are about to find out by trying a new toolkit to prevent mislabeled blood specimens used by a hospital that did experience that huge improvement.
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Encryption would sharply reduce the risk of damage from any loss of data, and widespread use could discourage thieves from trying to access healthcare information, says Brad Rostolsky, JD, an associate with the law firm of Reed Smith in Philadelphia who has worked with healthcare providers to ensure data security. Rostolsky acknowledges that encryption can be costly for a large organization.
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Continuing reports of security breaches resulting in the loss of sensitive patient data show the weaknesses of some healthcare organizations, and some experts say criminals are targeting healthcare for cyber attacks.
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An autopsy determined that Anna Brown's death in a jail cell in September 2012 was caused by blood clots that formed in her legs and migrated to her lungs, according to authorities in St. Louis, MO. Police say Brown went to three hospitals complaining of leg pain in the days leading up to her death, including her visit to St. Mary's Health Center that led to her arrest for trespassing.
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Some employers are taking advantage of people's tendency to post explicit and sometimes disparaging information about themselves on Facebook and other media by demanding access to those sites before hiring. After incidents in which patient information was posted on Facebook, some healthcare providers might consider monitoring employee sites on an ongoing basis.
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As hospitals move rapidly toward an electronic medical record to improve patient care and coordination, employee health has a delicate task. Employee health can ride the wave to better use of technology but must still maintain employee confidentiality.
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If information is power, then employee health professionals are about to get a lot more powerful.
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Amid all the advances in electronic medical records software, there's been a setback in occupational health. Respond, which was purchased by Becton, Dickinson and Company in 2009 and renamed BD Protect, is being discontinued.
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A 70-year-old man waves a gun in the emergency department. A gunman shoots his estranged wife and her mother in an intensive care unit. An environmental services worker at a hospital shoots his ex-wife, also an employee, in the hospital garage.
