Answers To Diseases

Lesson for Hospitals and Health Care Providers: Photos of Shark Bite Victim

Admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:30:13 +0000

Martin Memorial too mum: Hospital staff violated privacy of shark victim, an article from the Palm Beach Post. The article highlights the impact ubiquitous mobile devices with cameras are having on our society and the potential liability risks associated with the use/misuse of these devices by health care employees.

The article indicates that various hospital employees took photos of a shark bite victim when he arrived in the emergency room. The article discusses the action taken by the hospital in response to the incident. Another article indicates that the photos were emailed to others.

This type of situation is a nightmare for hospital administration, the privacy officer and legal counsel. The effort and investigation that likely went into figuring out who took photos, where those photos went and the procedure for recapturing/removing the photos from the various sources was time consuming and expensive (both in $$ and reputation) for the hospital.

As such, this incident provides a good example for training and reeducating health care employees on patient privacy issues. Health care employees and professionals must always remember to start from a framework of protecting the health and privacy of their patients. As the use of mobile devices with cameras and social media tools becomes more ingrained in our every day lives — the ability for private information to be captured, transferred and spread in a viral fashion has become much easier. Caution must be used and this case highlights the importance of retraining staff and highlighting the importance of protecting your patient’s privacy.

Microsoft Research TechFest 2010—through the lens of a clinician

Admin — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:30:12 +0000

One of my favorite events of the year is Microsoft TechFest . The two-day event hosted by my colleagues at Microsoft Research opened today. As usual, I was blown away by what I saw. I cant go into great detail, or show you any pictures. …(read more)

HIMSS Day 2—cool technologies from Panasonic, Philips and Microsoft

Admin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:30:24 +0000

OK. The cat is out of the bag. I can finally tell you about one of the meetings I had while I was in Japan last week. The meeting was with Panasonic, and I was among a handful of people to get a sneak peek at Panasonics new convertible…(read more)

Microsoft makes some important announcements at HIMSS Day 1

Admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:30:12 +0000

While I was winging my way back from Japan two things were particularly on my mind. First was the culmination of a very successful week of meetings with health industry executives and government leaders and advisors in Japan. This included…(read more)

HITECH Law Blog

Admin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:30:14 +0000

A warm welcome to fellow AHLA member and health law blogger, Kathie McDonald-McClure.

I just ran across her blog, HITECH Law Blog. She focuses the blog on health information technology, privacy and security and the blog was named after the HITECH Act. Looks like a great addition to the health law blogosphere.

Ms. McDonald-McClure is a member of the Health Care Services Team at Wyatt Tarrant & Combs, LLP in Louisville, KY.

AHLA Hospital’s Friend or Foe: The Age of Social Media and Health 2.0

Admin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 10:30:28 +0000

Today Jody Joiner and I presented at the AHLA Hospitals and Health Systems Institute on the use of social media by hospitals and health care providers. We provided an overview of social media use by hospitals and health care providers, discussed the pros/cons of using social media in the health care environment, presented case studies of the risks and legal implications and did a short role play involving tweets in the context of a medical negligence case. We also provided those attending with recommendations on developing social media guidelines and policies.

To show the speed and ease of using social media tools to spread information, news and photos we we did some live shots during the presentations using an iPhone that were then loaded up to my blog, Twitter and Facebook. We then pulled up the posts and tweets at the end of our hour presentation.

Great audience with great follow up questions. Thanks go out to Mark Browne (@ConsultDoc) and Peter Leibold (@HealthLawyers) for live tweeting during the session.

Healthcare ICT in Japan—A view from the top

Admin — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:30:12 +0000

There are some 8000 hospitals in Japan; a number that is surprising when you consider that the population of this country is approximately 120 million people. That adds up to a lot of hospital beds per capita! Ten percent of the population…(read more)

Life and Health in Japan

Admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:30:12 +0000

From the 34th floor window of my hotel room on the Southern Terrace near Shinjuku train station I have an expansive view of the city. Below me, thousands of Japanese men and women emerge like ants from the subway and rail lines on their way to work. After…(read more)

New Show! Microsoft Health Tech Today

Admin — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:30:21 +0000

Im pleased to be able to share information about the newest episode of Microsoft Health Tech Today , the on-line video series at the intersection of health and information technology. Our March program will premier on February 25th. My guests…(read more)

AIS Report on Patient Privacy: Analysis of Willful Neglect Under HITECH

Admin — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 04:30:16 +0000

Recently I was interviewed for a story focused on the changes to the HIPAA civil penalty enforcement under the HITECH Act. The article is titled, W illful Neglect Is Difficult to Pin Down, but Can Result in Enormous HIPAA Penalties. The article discusses the definition and interpretation of “willful neglect” under the HIPAA penalty provisions. Health care privacy officers should find this article helpful in better understanding their role and responsibility in overseeing privacy compliance efforts.

The full story was reprinted on AIS Health Business Daily website from the AIS Report on Patient Privacy.