Medical records turn up online – MRecord transcription services

What was interesting was where they were, on a site called visvabpo.com, which appeared to be a defunct company in India called Visva BPO. The transcription/speech company does have an “outsourced” module advertised with 24/7 services so perhaps the breach was in this area, again just a guess with the name of the site where the records were.

Again too as the article mentions, in a case like this, contact search engines like Google to have them removed from cache as well, although most drop pretty quickly anymore as the cache updates on what is shown online. BD

Alice Fisk searched Google hoping to find condolence messages written on memorial sites for her daughter, who died in September from complications of diabetes.

Instead of condolences, Fisk found a medical report about her daughter's visit to a bone doctor.

"I was astonished," said Fisk, who lives in Schaghticoke. "What a violation of a right of privacy to have someone's medical report online."

Records of more than 1,000 patient visits to Northeast Orthopaedics, a large Albany surgical practice on Everett Road, have been posted on the Internet, a violation of patient privacy laws. Alan Okun, practice administrator, said the North Carolina company that transcribes dictation for the doctors had a security lapse. The problem was discovered earlier this week and the company, MRecord, removed the records, he said. At least 300 records are detailed narratives of the patient visits. Records of about 1,000 patients are revealed through daily schedules for the practice from March through August 2008. The schedules include patient names, dates of birth and the reason for the visit, like "follow up knee," "injection," and "emergency ankle."

Detailed medical records turn up online -- Page 1 -- Times Union - Albany NY