Nurse faces 51 counts of medical record ID theft at Colo. hospital

Suspect allegedly accessed 85 confidential patient and staff records

Sept. 27--A nurse accused of improperly accessing patient records at numerous hospitals in the Denver metro area faces five counts of identity theft and 46 counts of theft of medical records in connection with his time at Boulder Community Hospital between May 2010 and January 2011.

Cannon Lamar Tubb, 31, worked for a now-defunct Denver nurse staffing agency that placed him as an intensive care unit nurse in numerous Centura Health facilities, the Platte Valley Medical Center and Boulder Community Hospital, according to court documents.

Tubb had a nursing license from Texas that was also valid in Colorado, but his license was suspended in January in relation to prescription fraud, according to an arrest affidavit.

Centura first discovered Tubb had accessed 85 confidential patient and staff records at its hospitals during a computer audit in 2010 and notified Westminster police, where a detective identified at least three cases of identity theft, according to an arrest affidavit.

 

That first victim had filed a complaint after several credit cards were taken out in her name and her husband's name and used to make purchases, including $758 for an Apple iPad. Detectives traced the IP address used to make the purchase back to Boulder Community Hospital, the affidavit said.

Hospital officials said Tubb worked at BCH for 32 days between May 2010 and January 2011. BCH ran an audit on Tubb's computer use at the hospital and sent letters to all patients whose records he looked at, as well as all patients who were under his care.

BY ERICA MELTZER

Daily Camera (Boulder, Colo.)

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Landlady Refuses to Rent to WI Single Mom

As one of the groups most likely to face housing discrimination, single mothers often have a difficult time renting apartments and homes in areas safe enough for their families.

In one such incident, Darlene Dovenberg, of Dovenberg Investments in West Salem, Wisconsin, refused to rent to a single mother, claiming that the property was unsafe without a man around "to shovel the snow."

She's now the subject of an administrative complaint brought by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Read the full story and see how this violates the Fair Housing Act

 

Disabled Child? Create a Special Needs Trust

You may not have a will, or a durable power of attorney, but if you have a disabled child or family member who will be in need of care once you're gone, you should absolutely leave your assets in a special needs trust.

Designed to protect assets and provide for the care of disabled or mentally ill children and adults who lack the capacity to manage finances, special needs trusts are the premier estate planning devices for family members with disabilities.

Read the full article and Learn how one can help

Are Bullying Lawsuits on the Rise?

Are bullying lawsuits on the rise? Parents and teachers everywhere have become more aware of the dangers of bullying and cyberbullying in both the classroom and on the Internet.

Many parents are now turning to the law to try to ensure their children's safety and welfare.

One bullying lawsuit centers on the tragic case of Jon Carmichael. Jon was only 13-years-old when he committed suicide, which his parents believe was spurred by bullying.

Read the full story....

Pre-Paid Legal Services Becomes LegalShield(SM)

 After Four Decades, Legal Service Plan Provider Rebrands Marketing and Corporate Identity

The rebranding initiative is a component in the overall integration plan for long-term growth of the company, which began immediately after the MidOcean acquisition.

CEO Rip Mason has commented on the strong operational and administrative systems within the company, as well as the scalable operating system and legal network which offer strong opportunity for future growth. With this infrastructure in place, CEO Mason and his team are focusing on an ambitious plan of action that includes: increased focus on business retention; standardization of training and expanding; and developing new market segments, such as small business services and the Hispanic market.

Read the Full Press release

Watch the REVEAL video HERE

California Strengthens Its Data Breach Law - Will Other States Follow?

California Amends Its Data Breach Law - For Real, This Time! (As California Goes, So Goes the Nation?)

August 31, 2011, Governor Brown signed SB 24 into law.  SB 24, which will take effect January 1, 2012, requires the inclusion of certain content in data breach notifications, including a general description of the incident, the type of information breached, the time of the breach, and toll-free telephone numbers and addresses of the major credit reporting agencies in California. 

In addition, importantly, SB 24 requires data holders to send an electronic copy of the notification to the California Attorney General if a single breach affects more than 500 Californians.  This adds California to the list of states and other jurisdictions that require some type of regulator notice in the event of certain types of data security breaches

CLICK HERE TO SEE State Security Breach Notification Laws

The importance of trained professionals to properly handle YOUR medical records!

More insiders snooping into health records, says survey

Breaches into protected health information (PHI) are on the rise, and staffers are responsible for more than a third of the intrusions, a new survey has found.

The "2011 Survey of Patient Privacy Breaches" from Veriphyr, a Los Altos, Calif.-based provider of identity and access intelligence, determined that more than 70 percent of organizations surveyed were targets of one or more breaches of PHI within the last 12 months. And, insiders were responsible for the majority of breaches, with 35 percent taking an unauthorized look at medical data of fellow employees and 27 percent peeking at records of friends and relatives.

 

  The Veriphyr report determined, as evidenced by the fact that data breaches of patient information cost health care organizations nearly $6 billion annually, according to a Ponemon Institute report.

But what stood out of the survey for Norquist was the prevalence of insider abuse. Even the health care personnel themselves are concerned that fellow staffers will abuse the system and take a look at their personal health records out of curiosity, Norquist said.

But, he added, there is a second motive for insiders sneaking looks at health records: identity theft. With a growing market for personally identifiable information, health care personnel increasingly are being recruited to feed sensitive information to outsiders for Medicaid fraud and credit card schemes, he said

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