FEATHER RIVER HOSPITAL

Report ID: 3SWH11.03, California Department of Public Health

Reported Entity: FEATHER RIVER HOSPITAL

Issue:

Based on interview and document review, the facility failed to notify the Department within five business days of detecting the unauthorized disclosure of Patient 1's medical information to an outside entity.Findings:During a concurrent interview and record review on 2/16/12 at 9 am, faxed information received from the facility to the Department on 1/5/12 at 3:27 pm was reviewed with the Privacy Official, who related the following:On 12/28/11 at 9:30 am, the facility became aware that Patient 1's personal health information which included name, date of birth, medical record number, age, race, gender, allergies, physician, address, phone number, marital status, primary language spoken, and religion, had been accessed by Staff B without Patient 1's authorization on that day. On 3/15/12 at 5:05 pm, Staff B acknowledged that she had accessed Patient 1's record because she had recognized the telephone number in a newspaper advertisement for the sale of puppies and wanted to confirm that the telephone number was that of Patient 1. Staff B confirmed that she accessed Patient 1's medical record on 12/28/12 for personal reasons, and that she did not have Patient 1's permission to access his record on 12/28/12.The facility failed to notify the Department of this incident within the required five business day reporting period that ended on 1/5/12 at 9:30 am. Notification was sent to the Department, via fax, on 1/5/12 at 3:27 pm, approximately six hours late.

Outcome:

Deficiency cited by the California Department of Public Health: Health & Safety Code 1280

Related Reports:

The report containing this deficiency also includes information about 2 other violations. Note that these may be related to the same event: 3SWH11.01, 3SWH11.02