In an important step to enforce new state laws around protecting the privacy of medical records, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has fined five California hospitals a total of $675,000 for failing to prevent unauthorized access to their confidential patient information.
With targeted malware attacks posing greater threats to health care institutions, the director of CDPH, Dr. Mark Horton, said ensuring the privacy of patient data is a critical component to the medical industry.
“Medical privacy is a fundamental right and a critical component of quality medical care in California. We are very concerned with violations of patient confidentiality and their potential harm to the residents of California.”
While Federal regulations such as HIPAA have prompted health care organizations to take measures to better protect digital patient records, stopping highly targeted cyber attacks continue to be one of the industry’s top challenges. Continue reading this post…