Dallas Anesthesiologist Indicted for Health Care Fraud
Dr. Richard Toussaint, a high profile Dallas anesthesiologist, has been indicted for health care fraud by a federal grand jury. Toussaint is a founder of Forest Park Medical Centers, a chain of for-profit hospitals. He is also a movie producer and philanthropist. Toussaint led medical missions to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, and to Honduras…
Read More$750,000 HIPAA Settlement for a Stolen Laptop and Unencrypted Backup Media from an Employees Car
Cancer Care Group, P.C. agreed to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Cancer Care paid $750,000 and will adopt a robust corrective action plan to correct deficiencies in…
Read MoreFake Hospice Nurse Sentenced to 48 Months in Federal Prison
DALLAS — A Dallas woman who stole the identity of a registered nurse and used that identity to work at several Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area hospice companies, where she saw and purportedly treated 243 hospice patients, was sentenced this morning, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas. Jada Necole Antoine, 34,…
Read MorePotential PHI Disclosure After Employee Works from Home with Hospital Data
The William W. Backus Hospital has sent breach notification letters to 360 individuals alerting them that their Protected Health Information (PHI) may have been viewed by an unauthorized individual. The information potentially viewed includes patient names, medical record numbers, dates of treatment, and information relating to the diagnoses and treatment provided to patients. The hospital…
Read MoreNo One Can Afford to Ignore IT Security Anymore
When discussing data security, it’s common enough to refer to the most recent major breaches. High-profile hacks at retailer Target and insurance giant Anthem have been regular reference points lately, but it’s easy to guess that one or both of them are hoping the Internal Revenue Service will take their place as the poster child…
Read MoreHacker Pleads Guilty to Stealing Tax Filings from 4 CPA Firms
A Bulgarian hacker has admitted to participating in a $6 million fraudulent tax return scheme in which he used tax-filing information stolen from at least four major CPA firms in the U.S. Vanyo Minkov, 32, pleaded guilty Monday before U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares in a Newark, N.J., federal court to a superseding information…
Read MoreHospital Employee Steals Protected Patient Data to Commit Identity Theft
Hospital Employee Steals Protected Patient Data to Commit Identity Theft A former employee of the Bethesda Hospital in Boynton Beach, Fla, has been arrested and charged with identity theft; after fraudulently obtaining IDs and credit int he names of 20 individuals, most of which had been patients of the Boynton Beach hospital in which she…
Read MoreNorth East Medical Services HIPAA Breach Reported: 69,246 Affected
A North East Medical Services HIPAA breach has been reported which exposed the Protected Health Information of almost 70,000 patients after an unencrypted laptop was stolen from the car of a NEMS employee’s car. According to a breach notice sent to the California Department of Public Health, the incident occurred on July 11, 2015. The…
Read MoreDetroit Area Doctor Sentenced to 45 Years in Prison for Health Care Fraud Scheme
A Detroit area hematologist-oncologist was sentenced today to serve 45 years in prison for his role in a health care fraud scheme that included administering medically unnecessary infusions or injections to 553 individual patients and submitting to Medicare and private insurance companies approximately $34 million in fraudulent claims. Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of…
Read MoreClass Action Lawsuit Filed Against Medical Center for Data Breach
A class action lawsuit has been filed in the Kanawha Circuit Court against Charleston Area Medical Center, for a data breach that occurred between August 2013 and February 2014. The lawsuit has been filed by two plaintiffs who were patients of the medical center at the time of the data breach. Tiffany Mallion and Nickole…
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