Cybersecurity

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health terminated its partnership with Philly Fighting COVID, the organization overseeing its largest COVID-19 vaccination site, after learning the group had become for-profit and altered its data policy to allow potential sales of users' information,…

Tampa Bay (Fla.) Breast Care Specialists took its EHR system offline after a cyberattack exposed patients' personal and medical information, the oncology practice announced Jan. 21.

An IT security incident at Abilene, Texas-based Hendrick Health System exposed hundreds of thousands of patients' information.

Salem (Ore.) Clinic and the Oregon Heart Center in Salem began notifying patients Jan. 19 that their protected health information was exposed during a May 2019 ransomware attack targeting their mailing service provider. 

Okanogan County (Wash.) Public Health is experiencing computer and phone system downtime after a cyberattack Jan. 18 shut down IT operations across the local government's network, according to Spokane, Wash.-based KREM News. 

HHS' Office for Civil Rights will not impose penalties for potential HIPAA violations of healthcare providers and their business associates who use online or web-based scheduling applications to coordinate COVID-19 vaccine appointments.

Abilene, Texas-based Hendrick Health System began notifying patients of a cyberattack that occurred last autumn and may have exposed their personal information.

Hackers who leaked the European Medicines Agency's COVID-19 vaccine data from Moderna and Pfizer manipulated the information before publishing it online, the EMA announced Jan. 15. 

While the recently proposed HHS updates to the HIPAA Privacy Rule aim to help patients get more digital access to their health information, some of the proposed changes pose concerns for healthcare providers. 

Excellus BlueCross BlueShield agreed to pay the Office for Civil Rights $5.1 million to settle potential HIPAA violations related to a data breach, HHS said Jan. 15.