The following item was posted recently on Foley Hoag’s Law and Environment blog, and we thought it would be of interest to our readers.
Posted on September 17, 2010 by Rebecca L. Puskas
Discussion of the Smart Grid usually focuses on efficiencies that may be achieved by a system that responds to real time information about energy production, distribution and consumption. But the development of this advanced digital infrastructure,… More
Interesting article in this week’s Economist about social network analysis, outlining how companies are using increasing sophisticated forms of data-mining on their customers, and how industry is spending billions to advance the process. More
Following on the heels of the discovery of hospital records in a town garbage dump, today’s Boston Globe reported that "computer files that possibly contained personal information on about 800,000 people connected to South Shore Hospital are ‘unrecoverable.’" However, the investigation into this breach determined that there was a low of harm risk to those individuals whose records were lost, given that the tapes in question "would require specialized equipment and software to read the information." … More
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (“SAMHSA”), in close cooperation with the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”), is conducting a study of the “Confidentiality and Privacy Issues Related to Psychological Testing Data.” This study was specifically called for in section 13424 of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (“HITECH”) Act.
HIPAA’s Privacy Rule includes special protections relating to the use and disclosure of psychotherapy notes;… More
Does the “compelling need” for patient records by a state body that oversees and regulates physicians trump the statute that protects the confidentiality of psychotherapy records? Not in Massachusetts, according to a September 2, 2010 decision of the Supreme Judicial Court, Board of Registration in Medicine v. John Doe, No. SJC-10556.
At issue in this case were the treatment practices of a board-certified psychiatrist who specialized in “pain management.” Due to a concern that inappropriate prescriptions for pain medication were being written and that Doe himself was impaired,… More