CONTRA COSTA REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

Report ID: WW7B11.01, California Department of Public Health

Reported Entity: CONTRA COSTA REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

Issue:

Based on interview and record review, the facility failed to prevent unauthorized access and disclosure of Patient 35's protected, confidential health information, when the Registration Clerk inadvertently placed the patient's identification band on the wrong patient without confirming the identity of the patient. This failure allowed for potential unlawful or unauthorized use of the information and violation of the patient's right to privacy. This could additionally result in incorrect treatment.Findings: During an interview on 9/16/14 at 11 a.m., the Compliance Officer confirmed that the patient's information had been included on an identiband, which was placed on the incorrect patient. She stated that, during a busy time, an extra band was printed for one of the two patients being admitted at the same time. The extra band was incorrectly placed on a patient other than the one intended. She confirmed the information which was contained on the band.A review of the letter submitted by the facility revealed that the information released included the patient's name, medical record, account and control numbers, date of birth, gender and date of service. The incident occurred due to the staff person's failure to follow protocol to use two identifiers to confirm the correct identity of the patient when applying the wristband.

Outcome:

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

Related Reports:

10 other violations reported on the same date. Note that other citations may be about the same event: 1VSU11.01, 5Z6Z11.01, CIK111.01, JNFO11.01, L9QP11.01, MFPP11.01, MFPP11.02, R6B811.01, S5BC11.01, ZCRD11.01