Declarations

Sony’s Security

“When I hear Sony talking about deploying [automated software monitoring and configuration management] software in reaction to the [data] breach, what I wonder is, ‘Why didn’t they have this on their systems before?’ It raises a lot of questions about their practices.”

—Dan Zeiler, a director of security and compliance for American Internet Services, a data center services provider, commenting on the April 19 data breach at Sony, in which hackers accessed personal data for more than 100 million of its online video game users. The company said it could not rule out that some 12.3 million credit card numbers had been obtained during the hacking.

Rein In Comp Costs

“Since the creation of the official medical fee schedule governing pharmaceuticals, there has been a growing practice by some prescribing physicians to utilize medications that are not covered by the fee schedule, to dispense these medications directly to workers’ compensation patients, and to bill employers and insurers at highly inflated rates. One of the ways that these physicians accomplished the goal of billing at inflated rates was by repackaging common medications from bulk supplies … and dispensing them … at prices far above the fee schedule.”

—California Assembly Bill 378, which was proposed to help reduce the use and cost of compound drugs in workers’ compensation claims.

Calling for Crash Tax Ban

“As local governments grapple with shrinking budgets, over 60 cities turned to charging for emergency response services in the form of accident fees or ‘crash taxes.’ However these new fees have not been a magic potion for cash-strapped cities. Several communities including, Roseville, Vista, Oceanside and Sacramento, Calif., repealed their local ordinances because the projected revenue did not materialize, while their reputations with visitors and businesses were tarnished.”

—Mark Sektnan, president of the Association of California Insurance Companies, which is asking legislators to ban local governments from charging accident response fees or “crash taxes” for emergency responses to vehicle accidents.

Topics Cyber