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California

Private information on L.A. ambulance users leaked

by Dakota Smith

Private identity information, including Social Security numbers, may have been leaked for up to 900 Los Angeles ambulance patients as part of a multistate data breach, officials said Thursday.

Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Deputy Daren Palacios said Thursday that the confidential information of people who rode in LAFD ambulances over the last two years may have been compromised.

The information was accessed by an employee at Fort Lauderdale-based Advanced Data Processing Inc., which handles ambulance billing for the LAFD and other ambulance agencies across the country.

On Oct. 12, the LAFD sent letters to 26 Los Angeles-area patients who took ambulances informing them their names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth had been accessed by an employee at the ADPI subsidiary who "deliberately and maliciously accessed and disclosed individual account information."

The sensitive information was then used to file fraudulent federal income tax returns to obtain refunds, according to LAFD officials.

The 26 letters were sent to those whom officials know were accessed, but they say the employee had possible access to information for about 900 people.

"Our customers turned to us in a time of need, and we treated them and transported them, and their expectation is that we protect this personal information," Palacios said.

ADPI has handled the city's ambulance billing for the last two years under an outsourcing effort designed to save costs.

Palacios added that the city isn't expected to be held liable in the investigation, which is being handled by the Internal Revenue Service and local law enforcement authorities.

ADPI spokeswoman Lisa MacKenzie said notification letters were sent by the company nationwide. The only people who would have been impacted in Los Angeles would be those who may have taken an ambulance, either an LAFD one or one operated by another company that uses the company's services.

"It's always a drag for anything like this to happen," MacKenzie said. "The company is doing everything that they can to provide information and resources for anyone who may have been affected."

She said people can call 877-264-9622 or go online to www.myidcare.com/intersecurity to find out more information.

"I don't have any numbers on the total number that were affected. Many states were involved," she said.

Stealing private medical information violates the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

The city's decision to contract with ADPI follows a growing pattern of the city using outsourcing to increase efficiencies and save money.

As part of the move, about 50 positions were eliminated at the LAFD.

The decision to outsource operations was criticized at the time by Pat McOsker, head of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City.

On Thursday, he said he'd warned the City Council such a breach could occur.

"This is an unfortunate example of what happens when you privatize," McOsker said. "The city isn't able to ensure that people's information is kept private."

Palacios said he believes the City Council considered all the issues when choosing to outsource billing operations for the LAFD.

"I think the decision was made that this was the right decision, to go with the outsourcing," Palacios said.

But he added that the City Attorney's Office is re-examining its contract with ADPI.

In an email late Thursday, Deputy City Attorney William Carter said his office was examining whether any other city departments have contracts with ADPI.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_22094895/private-information-l-ambulance-users-leaked

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U.S. plan to slash global spread of AIDS

WORLD HEALTH Associated Press

Washington -- In an ambitious road map for slashing the global spread of AIDS, the Obama administration says treating people sooner and more rapid expansion of other proven tools could help even the hardest-hit countries begin turning the tide of the epidemic over the next three to five years.

"An AIDS-free generation is not just a rallying cry - it is a goal that is within our reach," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton , who ordered the blueprint, said in the report.

"Make no mistake about it, HIV may well be with us into the future, but the disease that it causes need not be," she said at the State Department Thursday.

Some 34 million people worldwide are living with HIV, and despite a decline in new infections over the last decade, 2.5 million people were infected last year.

Given those staggering figures, what does an AIDS-free generation mean? That virtually no babies are born infected, young people have a much lower risk than today of becoming infected, and that people who already have HIV would receive lifesaving treatment.

That last step is key: Treating people early in their infection, before they get sick, not only helps them survive but also dramatically cuts the chances that they'll infect others. Yet only about 8 million HIV patients in developing countries are getting treatment. The United Nations aims to have 15 million treated by 2015.

Other important steps include: Treating more pregnant women, and keeping them on treatment after their babies are born; increasing male circumcision to lower men's risk of heterosexual infection; increasing access to both male and female condoms; and more HIV testing.

The world spent $16.8 billion fighting AIDS in poor countries last year. The U.S. government is the leading donor, spending about $5.6 billion.

Thursday's report from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief outlines how progress could continue at current spending levels or how faster progress is possible with stepped-up commitments from hard-hit countries.

Zambia, which is seeing some declines in new cases of HIV, will have to treat only 145,000 more patients over the next four years to meet its share of the U.N. goal, a move that could prevent more than 126,000 new infections.

http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/U-S-plan-to-slash-global-spread-of-AIDS-4079251.php

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Arizona

Arizona Gov. Brewer sued over license policy for immigrants

Associated Press

PHOENIX – Immigrant rights advocates filed a lawsuit Thursday that seeks to overturn Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's order denying driver's licenses for young immigrants who have gotten work permits and avoided deportation under a new Obama administration policy.

The lawsuit alleges the state has in effect classified young-adult immigrants as not having permission to be in the country and asks a federal judge to declare Brewer's policy unconstitutional because it's trumped by federal law and denies licenses without valid justification.

"Arizona's creation of its own immigration classification impermissibly intrudes on the federal government's exclusive authority to regulate immigration," the lawsuit said.

The Obama administration in June took administrative steps to shield as many as 800,000 immigrants from deportation. Applicants must have been brought to the United States before they turned 16, be younger than 30, have been in the country for at least five continuous years, have graduated from a high school or GED program or have served in the military. They also were allowed to apply for a two-year renewable work permit.

Brewer has defended her Aug. 15 order on driver's licenses as necessary for ensuring that state agencies adhere to the intent of state laws denying public benefits to illegal immigrants.

The governor has clashed with the Obama administration in the past over illegal immigration, most notably in the challenge that the federal government filed in a bid to invalidate Arizona's 2010 immigration law. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law's most contentious section, but threw out other sections.

Lawyers for two civil rights groups that led a challenge to the 2010 state law also filed the lawsuit over Brewer's driver's license policy.

The latest case was filed on behalf of the five young-adult immigrants in Arizona who were brought to the United States from Mexico as children and were granted deferred deportation protections under the Obama administration's policy but were denied licenses or complained that Brewer's order has caused significant hardships.

Brewer's policy makes it difficult or impossible for such young immigrants to do essential things in their everyday life, such as going to school, going to the grocery store, and finding and holding down a job, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit said Brewer's order means federal work permits for the program's participants won't be accepted as proof of their legal presence in the country for the purpose of getting a driver's license. Still, the lawsuit said, the state will accept such a work permit from immigrants who have won deferred deportation status as part of other federal immigration programs.

The five young immigrants aren't seeking money damages and instead are asking a judge to bar Arizona from denying driver's licenses to immigrants who were granted deferred deportation status by the federal government. It seeks class-action status that would let all other young immigrants in Arizona who were granted the deferred-deportation protection join the lawsuit.

About 11,000 people living in Arizona have applied for the deferred deportation protection under the Obama administration's policy.

The lawsuit was also filed on behalf of the Arizona DREAM Act Coalition, a group that advocates for federal legislation that would provide a path to legal status for hundreds of thousands of young immigrants.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/11/29/arizona-gov-brewer-sued-over-license-policy-for-immigrants/

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Ohio lawmakers pass bill to create arson registry

Convicted arsonists in Ohio would be required to register with local sheriffs under a bill headed to the governor's desk. The Ohio House voted 89-2 on Wednesday to send the measure to Gov. John Kasich.

The legislation would create a statewide registry of arsonists and would require them to register annually with the sheriff in the county where they live. That would apply to people convicted of arson in Ohio or elsewhere.

Republican state Rep. Danny Bubp of West Union says the measure could help deter repeat arsons, reduce damage and save lives.

Registration fees would fund the registry. Convicted arsonists would pay $50 initially and then $25 each year to register again.

http://www.sanduskyregister.com/article/2878686