A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry
CBS Evening News did an even bigger story - tonight about medical records breach.
Posted: Feb 07, 2015
Maybe this will be investigated deeply enough to reveal the travesty that our profession has become, and the role offshoring medical records plays in ID theft.
There's talk of a HIPAA overhaul. - sm
[ In Reply To ..]Article at National Monitor. Sorry, I am not able to post the link.
I wonder what the general population would do if they found out about their personal medical information going to India, the Philippines and China.
Answer - Just the facts
[ In Reply To ..]They wouldn't do anything because they already know.
I don't think the general population knows this - at ALL. Maybe the
[ In Reply To ..]hospitals do. I would not be happy if my records, SSN, and personal info was sent to any of those countries, esp China. I asked my doctor's office and they just say they don't know about that, to call records,etc. When I call records they pass the buck again, oh I can't answer that. But I keep bugging them, saying I WANT to know. I know they are sick of me but that is too bad. I know nothing will be done about it though.
This is my experience - Just the facts
[ In Reply To ..]I have said this repeatedly on this board but people hear what they want to hear. My facility offshores transcription. We NEVER send SSNs. Our vendor does not have access to them. MTSOs and their subcontractors are required to be HIPAA compliant; no one arbitrarily sends medical records overseas. If it was on the CBS News and in the newspaper, people know. Do you think you are the only one who watches the news or reads the paper? What would you like people to do? Hacking occurs domestically as well, and dishonest employees sell personal information. You have probably shared your SSN in other ways; online banking, online job applications and other ways as well, if you have a Facebook account, it's scary how much they know about you, and they sell personal info to advertisers. I am sure you are familiar with the debit card security breaches at Target and other large retail stores. Your doctor didn't know about this because they are not sending your records to China. I don't know what health care facility you use, but I doubt your records are going anywhere without your permission. People jump on one or two isolated news stories and things tend to be blown out of proportion and turned into a huge conspiracy theory. Yes it happens but probably not as often as you think. Unfortunately, we gave up our privacy when the world became automated.
Yours is just one experience. There will be - 80 million other experiences this time.
[ In Reply To ..]
80 million? - Just the facts
[ In Reply To ..]According to the news report, New Jersey and New York were affected and it was not 80 million people. No mention was made of China or India, only that the Blue Cross system was hacked because their network security was not strong enough. It still could have been an internal security breach.
According to 2 news reports I saw on two major - stations (neither was Fox), it WAS 80 mil.
[ In Reply To ..]Why so defensive of the bad guys?
Not - Just the facts
[ In Reply To ..]I'm not defending anyone but it cannot possibly be 80,000,000, Anthem does not even have that many subscribers. I'm only trying to get people to think about this: The immediate connection was made that health records were sent to China and India, which is not the case, the records resided on internal servers and quite possibly the attack came from within. Employee records were compromised as well, that should tell you something. No one in this discussion seems to grasp that health records are not sent to China or India, the US-based system was hacked.
Believe what you like, then. - Have a nice day.
[ In Reply To ..]nm
80 million is the total amount of people affected - not just patients affected
[ In Reply To ..]And the IP address they have traced to the hack originated from China. Try actually comprehending what you read or watch on TV. Stop making this sound like it's never a possibility. As another poster said, the clients who use the EMR systems have complete access to everything all in one place. I work for imed and they are transitioning several clients to Epic already - and this information IS being sent overseas. The MTs in India have access to the exact same info as the MTs in the U.S. I can go in right now and look up pretty much anything I wanted on a patient by using Epic. Get a clue.
That's a big WRONG. - It was 80 million people
[ In Reply To ..]... in several states, including Texas, Kansas, Missouri... 80 million people. The company I'm referring to is Anthem Insurance. They are the major company that was hacked - FROM AN IP ADDRESS IN CHINA. Blue Cross is just another one, but the Anthem hack is unbelievably huge.
Yes, you are correct; 80 million people - Freezingmybuttoff
[ In Reply To ..]-- and my husband and I (through his employer) in Ohio are one of them. It is Anthem insurance and yes, they are in several states. Our SS# is hanging out there and we are very concerned. ... Anthem is letting people know via U.S. Postal Service if their personal information got hacked and if so, offering free identity protection. That's all well and good, but if our premiums get raised again this year, I will be hopping mad.
I know hacking exists but one day last week - I was sitting in my home office
[ In Reply To ..]and my all in one printer started printing. It was printing the synopsis of a GYN patient's visit. The phone number they were faxing to was one digit different from mine. I shredded the documents immediately, but I can only wonder how many times this happens. I am not a home transcriptionist, I have never worked from home and the printer is just for personal use.
You should have notified the faxer too. SM - Old Anon
[ In Reply To ..]before shredding. You should have either emailed or called the faxer to let them know of the error (if there was a cover sheet with this information) before shredding, but you did the right thing.
Sitting in home office - Paranoid much?
[ In Reply To ..]That was not a hack, someone dialed the wrong number and got your fax machine. You should have informed the sender and returned the records. If it was an auto fax the need to change the number in their system.
Paranoid much - Not paranoid at all
[ In Reply To ..]I know this was not an incidence of being hacked, I explained it as a misdail on the phone. If it happens again I will call the FAXer and inform them. What made you think I thought it was hacking when I explained the incident perfectly clear?
Your experience is not what is eventually going to be the norm - everything done in EMR.
[ In Reply To ..]You say your facility doesn't send any identifiable information overseas. My guess is that you are not using one of the EMR platforms, such as Epic, wherein the dictation is entered directly into those systems. Many of these offshore companies DO have access to platforms like Epic and other EMRs and there's a campaign to eventually have all medical documentation done solely through the EMR directly.
I work on an account that uses Epic - we type directly into the patient's medical chart, where EVERYTHING is listed -- every last ounce of your own personal information as well as your family members' names, phones numbers, dates of birth, addresses, employment... everything. If you had watched the CBS special, you would have learned that once a hacker knows your family information also, they can then begin figuring out your passwords to everything. Any information you could ever ask for on a person is held in their medical records, more information than in a police report or a tax return or your Facebook, Linked in, etc. We aren't just talking about hacking into our credit cards... These hackers can find out anything they want from our medical records.
We aren't blowing anything out of proportion. It's very real. Those of us who have been working on these EMR platforms and have lost our jobs to offshore companies taking over these platforms... we've known for a long time that this would happen.
And no, I didn't give up my privacy when the world became automated... I never agreed to that at all and none of us are okay with it, except for maybe you.
Careful what you wish for. - IMANMT2
[ In Reply To ..]If a comp is hooked up to the internet, it's hackable. Doesn't matter about your antivirus software. If someone wants in, they'll get in and the internet is the door.
I've discovered most-if-not-all online typing platforms and other online, HIPAA-compliant file transfer software put the PHI at risk. The "HIPAA-compliant" just fools people (who, I wonder?) into thinking/believing everything is cool and it's good to go to outsource and save a bundle by not hiring employees. Of course, if it becomes an issue the at-home MT is done.
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