In Case You Missed It — Healthcare Daily Digest for Friday, 18 January

Utah has a living example of how fraught patient data security can be. As it turns out, one woman making one mistake can cause a rippling effect of hurt.

“Utah Medicaid contractor loses job over data breach” is the headline over at the Salt Lake Tribune. There, we’re asked to attend the tale of a contractor who misplaced a USB memory stick containing “the names, ages and prescription information of 6,000 Utahns on Medicaid.”

Whoops.

Jim Clair, CEO of Goold Data Systems, the company responsible for the (now fired) contractor said the mishap is a reminder to anyone in the health care industry “that one must continuously stress the importance of protecting personal health information. I don’t mean to make it that simple. But unfortunately it is.”

The above story can be nicely coupled with this story on a site called ContactCenterQuips.com: “Healthcare Call Center Outsourcing: Why it Makes Sense.”

Other headlines you may want to glance over:

• At Least It’s the Tasteful Kind of Nudity?: Alameda County in California is hauling out an ad campaign of semi-nude families holding strategically placed signs that read: “Cover Your Family.” Stay classy, California.

• There Weren’t Other Names That Might Have Worked? A company that is willingly calling itself Tools4ever — because it was named by your 14-year-old nephew who just learned about crude comedy — “is pleased to announce that during the previous quarter several healthcare facilities have chosen to implement UMRA to easily and securely manage user accounts while also meeting HIPPA, and other required standards.”

• “Gamification” is Not a Word: But you can still read this story about how health insurers and a host of technology startups are creating fun ways for folks to use their phones to track their health and fitness.

• Seven Simple Rules: “The healthcare industry can ensure patient safety in medical device interoperability by understanding seven overarching themes.”

• Followed by 10 Mistakes: Thinking about implementing wireless technology in your healthcare organization? IT WILL FAIL! Unless, you know, you do it right.