Adventist Medical Center

Report ID: WQOO11.01, California Department of Public Health

Reported Entity: ADVENTIST MEDICAL CENTER

Issue:

Based on staff interview and administrative document review, the hospital failed to keep Protected Health Information (PHI) confidential when Patient 1's PHI was faxed to an unauthorized recipient. This failure resulted in not protecting the PHI for the Patient and possible unauthorized use. Findings: 1. On 12/26/13 at 10:06 a.m., during an interview, the Privacy Officer (PO) stated a Health Information Management (HIM) employee misdialed a fax number resulting in Patient 1's Registration Record, History and Physical, Emergency Department Reports, Computed Tomography Report and Discharge Summary Notes being sent to an unauthorized recipient. Patient 1's PHI breached included: Patient 1's name, address, phone number, insurance information, date of birth, medical record number, account number, diagnosis, medical history, lab data, results of tests, medical doctor and date of service. The (Hospital) Policy number 1000.03.14: Faxing Patient Protected Health Information, dated 11/18/09 indicated, Policy Summary/Intent: "It is the policy the organization...It is the senders responsibility to be aware of the content of the faxes they are sending, to exercise caution in faxing confidential information, and to take precautionary steps to; validate the fax number, key in the correct fax number, confirm fax was sent to correct fax number, as well as, request is appropriate and meets minimum necessary."

Outcome:

Deficiency cited by the California Department of Public Health: Patients' Rights

Related Reports:

2 other violations reported on the same date. Note that other citations may be about the same event: 8F0211.01, JI2S11.01