HHS inspector says security for medical records poor.

[Guest guest]

We've talked about this on here before. The government is rushing the digital records database into being but security is still bad. Those flaws will likely never be fixed since the government just wants to data in its hands for control. It doesn't car who else might get them or what harm might be done to individuals, rather like it isn't serious about Social Security number violations.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hhs-inspector-general-says-push-for-electronic-medical-records-overlooks-some-security-gaps/2011/05/16/AFpaH54G_story.html

The nation’s push to computerize medical records has failed to fully address longstanding security gaps that expose patients’ most sensitive information to hackers and snoops, government investigators warn. Two reports released Tuesday by the inspector general of the Health and Human Services Department find that the drive to connect hospitals and doctors so they can share patient data electronically is being layered on a system that already has glaring privacy problems. Connecting it up could open new pathways for hackers, investigators say.

The market for illicit health care information is booming. In recent years, the case of a former UCLA Medical Center worker who sold details from the files of actress Farah Fawcett, singer Britney Spears and others to the National Enquirer gained notoriety.

Most cases don’t involve celebrities or get much attention. Yet fraudsters covet health care records, since they contain identifiers such as names, birth dates and Social Security numbers that can be used to construct a false identity or send Medicare bogus bills.