What's the top threat banks and their customers face in 2013? Nancy Guglielmo, VP, Fraud Reduction Program for BITS, shares her insights.
"The greatest challenges in the coming year are income tax fraud and identity theft. It's really amazing how much this type of fraud has grown in the last few years, and the IRS is really struggling with this issue, too. This is part of the reason we've seen an increase in identity theft, which I consider to be the No. 1 issue for fraud at this time."
"...income tax fraud and identity theft...the IRS is struggling with this issue, too. This is part of the reason we've seen an increase in identity theft, which I consider the No. 1 issue for fraud."Ms. Guglielmo's views are consistent with recent reports of identity theft involving insiders who steal patient or customer information and use or sell it to file fraudulent tax returns.
- Nancy Guglielmo, VP, Fraud Reduction Program, BITS
Download a white paper on data privacy breach detection. Learn how to proactively identify unauthorized breaches of data privacy, even by authorized users - with no hardware and no on-site software.Sources:
(a) BITS on Top Fraud Threats to Banks - CUInfoSecurity.com, 03/15/2013
Many predict the next wave of computer innovation will be driven by technologies that "fly under the banner of Big Data — data including Web pages, browsing habits, sensor signals, smartphone location trails and genomic information, combined with clever software to make sense of it all."
The IRS says identity theft affects many industries, not just hospitals. But according to HHS reports, health insurance companies have had breaches affecting millions of Floridians.
A probation officer for the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), was arrested and charged with conspiring to defraud the federal government. He worked with at least two other people who filed tax returns claiming more than $1.6 million in fraudulent tax refunds. One of them was found in possession of information from at least 90 people under DJJ supervision.
When an outside auditor needs access to your applications it can be particularly useful to assign each auditor a unique identifier (and associated password). 
Looking for a good example comparing HHS guidance with a real-life breach notification?
A former receptionist at a UK physician's office has been prosecuted by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for unlawfully obtaining sensitive medical information relating to her ex-husband’s new wife.
"With some healthcare providers now into their second year of meaningful use reporting, Medicare and Medicaid electronic health record payments were estimated at $12.3 billion paid to a total of 219,000 physicians and hospitals through February since the program’s inception."
As the HHS Office of Civil Rights prepares for a permanent audit program to start during fiscal year 2014, it will conduct an on-line survey of the 115 random HIPAA privacy/security compliance audits of providers, payers and claims clearinghouses audited in 2012.
A former employee of a Connecticut university hospital inappropriately accessed patient healthcare records.
In an update to our earlier blog "Insider Breaches Patient Data at Six Medical Practices," Lawrence Melrose Medical Electronic Record Inc., in Melrose, Mass. will notify the Office for Civil Rights of a data breach after an employee improperly accessed the electronic medical records of some 200 patients across six different medical practices.
An employee of a medical practice improperly accessed the electronic medical records (EMRs) and patient registration information of patients at six medical practices in Melrose, Massachusetts. 
In the first HIPAA breach settlement involving less than 500 patients, the University of Idaho has agreed to pay the Department of Health and Human Services $50,000.
A PwC Health Research Institute study finds the health IT worker shortage is greater than previously thought.
"The war for talent is on," said Steven Bennett of Kirby Partners, a health IT recruiting firm. Bennett and his co-presenter, Timothy Stettheimer,Regional CIO, Ascension Health, presented survey findings at HIMMS 2013.
According to a recent report by the College of Health Information Managers, the average annual base salary for CIOs and other senior executives at multi-hospital systems is $254,054.
Before the computer age and web era, Alan F. Westin, transformed the privacy debate. He died last month at age 83.
A South Miami hospital employee inappropriately accessed 834 records and disclosed patients' information to individuals involved in filing fraudulent tax returns.
While many see a new education database as a way to "personalize learning," others, including parents, the ACLU and PTA, are concerned about privacy of students' information.
"The Office for Civil Rights has received more than 77,000 complaints regarding breaches of health information privacy and completed more than 27,000 investigations, which have resulted in more than 18,000 corrective actions."
The HHS Office for Civil Rights is hiring health information privacy specialists on a fast-track, with the open period for applying closing on March 12.
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