NEW MANDATORY HIPAA FINES FOR IMPROPER DISPOSAL IN ABSENCE OF POLICIES AND TRAINING

MEDICAL RECORDS FOUND IN REGINA RECYCLING BIN

CBC.ca

March 23, 2011- The discovery of over 1,000 patient records in Regina, Saskatchewan has prompted a quick response from the province’s top privacy authority.

Gary Dickson, the province's information and privacy commissioner, told CBC News on Wednesday that he was surprised by what he found when he arrived at the site late in the day.

"To be honest, I'm astonished," Dickson said. "It appears to be a large volume of health information in file folders."

"What we know for sure is this is information that is not supposed to be found in a dumpster," he said. "This is totally inappropriate, to toss them in the dumpster where anyone could find them."

While the records have not been traced to one specific owner, at press time Dickson’s office was still working on retrieving all of the records. "I've got a colleague from my office who is still in the dumpster, trying to get to the bottom. We're still discovering more and more."

Johnson also announced that NAID will be providing official comment to HHS in support of the modifications, as well as creating a BA agreement to respond to the new requirement to use one with subcontractors.