To help patients be more informed partners in their healthcare, the Department of Health and Human Services has issued a final rule that amends the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 regulations to allow laboratories to give a patient, or a person designated by the patient, his or her “personal representative,” access to the patient’s completed test reports on the patient’s or patient’s personal representative’s request.

Nearly 42,000 members of a Wisconsin health insurance group have been notified that their protected health information may have been compromised following a HIPAA privacy breach.

Most (94 percent) social media users with health conditions said they would be willing to share their medical data with physicians to improve overall healthcare, provided that their privacy is protected, according to a discussion paper from the Institute of Medicine.

The disappearance of a password-protected, unencrypted desktop computer from Phoebe Putney Hospital in Albany, Ga., prompted officials to notify 6,700 patients that their data may be at risk.

Edgepark Medical Supplies, an Ohio-based medical supplier, is notifying approximately 4,200 customers that their protected health information is at risk.

The Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) will lead an industry-wide effort to conduct exercises to simulate cyber attacks on healthcare organizations. The results of CyberRX will be used to evaluate the industry’s response and threat preparedness against attacks and attempts to disrupt U.S. healthcare industry operations, according to an announcement.

The Office of Civil Rights soon will have an opening in its top spot.

A General Accounting Office report takes several federal agencies to task, including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, for inconsistently implementing policies and procedures when responding to a data breach involving personally identifiable information.