Medical Record Protection: It's Not Just HIPAA Anymore  

As most readers know, operating a health care organization means not only providing quality medical care, but also protecting patients' privacy and confidentiality. Medical record privacy has long been a standard in the health care industry, even prior to the implementation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), if nothing else for ethical reasons (patients do not want their personal information shared with others.)

Meanwhile, the number of cases of stolen personal information (identity theft) is on the rise. According to the Federal Trade Commission, 37 percent of all complaints the FTC received in 2005 (the most recent year for statistics) were related to identity theft; that translates to approximately 255,000 complaints for the year. As a result, any business who maintains personal data (including medical practices) has seen an increase in the re...