Report questions HHS data security

The General Accounting Office is expected to release a report questioning the computer security protecting data collected by Medicare, Medicaid and other programs run by the department of Health and Human Services, USA Today reports. The GAO review concludes that financial and personal information for millions of Americans may be at risk as it passes through the elaborate Medicare claims processing system. The report also points at possible problems with security protecting data at the National Institutes of Health and the FDA.

"Instead of firewalls to safeguard sensitive data, we have Swiss cheese," Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA)--always a reliable source for a lively quote--observed darkly. Grassley's office requested the GAO review.

- see this article from USA Today