THE VERDICT IS IN
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) was NOT so easily
HOODWINKED
Your Health Care Information Stored on Hospital Computers was not SECURE as Masterson Claimed, BCH was NOT HIPAA Compliant
[Disclaimer]
Chain of Events
November 6, 2007 - Anonymous individual (that be me) filed complaint with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) about Bladen County Hospital Administrative Staff's failure to comply with the federal guidelines for securing your healthcare information stored on hospital's computer systems/networks. This complaint came after several years of trying to get the BCH administrative staff to understand the importance of complying with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) HIPAA requirement to protect electronic healthcare information, but to no avail. Budget after budget proposal fell on deaf ears after repeatedly explaining this was a federal requirement and thus a critical project that needed to be funded. But time and time again, the administrative staff went away and returned without funding the project to protect your healthcare information. There it was November 2007, more than 2 1/2 years after the deadline for complying with the HIPAA Rule passed and little or nothing had been done to secure patient healthcare information. The priority was just not there. Click HERE to read complaint.
November ??, 2007 - I posted on this web site for all to see the original "REST OF STORY" to advise of the complaint and status of computer security or a lack thereof on Bladen County Hospital computer systems/networks. But guess what, no one in Bladen County seemed to care enuf to say or do anything. Click HERE to read the "Rest of Story."
January 31, 2008 - David Masterson published in the Bladen Journal an article poking fun at/rebuking the complaint by stating it was BASELESS, BCH was HIPPA COMPLIANT and the county's healthcare records were SECURE. What a joke!!!! Click HERE to read the article.
June 1, 2008 - Cape Fear Valley took over Bladen County Hospital and almost immediately conducted a security inspection and discovered computer systems/networks were not as secure as David Masterson portrayed them to be. They immediately embarked on a several-month project to secure the computer systems/networks and protect your healthcare information stored thereon.
June/July, 2008 - I assessed Masterson's comments in the January 31, 2007, article and distributed the assessment to the Bladen Journal and various agencies/individuals around Bladen County. No one seemed to be interested, just business as usual. Click HERE to read that assessment.
May 6, 2009 - Shortly after May 6, I received CMS letter indicating they had closed the case and presented their findings. Click HERE to read the CMS letter.
Readers, you can assess the situation for yourself, but as I read it Masterson was able to HOODWINK everyone but you, me, CMS and CFV. He misled, lied to and misinformed you about the security status of your healthcare information stored on hospital computer systems and networks. He did that with county leaders looking on and nothing was ever said or done about it. Or if it was, it was said and done behind closed doors but of little or no consequence. The sad part of it is this is not the only time you, the tax payers, county leaders, etc were HOODWINKED. Everyone just turned a blind eye to it.
