HIPAA Blog

[ Monday, January 14, 2008 ]

 

Texas AG sues PT firm for dumping patient records: From today's BNA reporter:

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott (R) Jan. 10 sued a Pennsylvania-based provider of physical therapy services, alleging thousands of pieces of sensitive personal information, including medical records, were thrown in the garbage (Texas v. Select Med. Corp., Tex. Dist. Ct., No. 08-01-21154, petition filed 1/10/08).


A failure to properly dispose of such information would violate the state's 2005 Identity Theft Enforcement and Protection Act.


Abbott is seeking temporary and permanent injunctions enjoining the defendants from disposing of records containing personal identifying information or sensitive personal information without shredding or erasing to make the data unreadable or undecipherable. Alternatively, the attorney general asked the court to order the defendants to contract with a business that properly disposes of confidential patient and business records.


According to the lawsuit filed in a Texas District Court for Hockley County, Abbott said Select Physical Therapy Texas Limited Partnership, headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., and its parent company, Select Medical Corp., of Mechanicsburg, Pa., systematically exposed patients to identity theft.

More here (subscription required).


Jeff [2:41 PM]

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