EISENHOWER MEDICAL CENTER

Report ID: ICTF11.01, California Department of Public Health

Reported Entity: EISENHOWER MEDICAL CENTER

Issue:

Based on interview and record review, the facility failed to prevent unauthorized disclosure of protected health information (PHI) for one patient (Patient 1). An employee faxed Patient 1's laboratory (lab) results to the wrong number. This failure resulted in an unauthorized person having access to Patient 1's PHI and the potential misuse of the information.Findings:On April 30, 2015, at 9:45 a.m., the Deputy Information Privacy Officer (DIPO) was interviewed. The DIPO stated a lab results report for Patient 1, that was intended to be faxed to a Home Health Agency, was actually faxed to a Diagnostic Laboratory. The DIPO stated the employee had just faxed a stack of reports to the diagnostic laboratory, and still had that number programmed into the fax machine. The employee did not double check the fax number, prior to sending the report. The DIPO stated the employee did not follow facility policy when faxing the report.On April 8, 2015, an employee of the diagnostic laboratory notified the facility of the error.The Laboratory Results Report sent to the wrong number contained Patient 1's PHI as follows:- Name;- Date of birth;- Medical record number; and- Results from blood tests.The policy and procedure titled, "Faxing Protected Health Information," dated February 10, 2015, was reviewed. The policy indicated, "Whenever possible, staff faxing protected health Information shall... Reconfirm the destination fax number prior to transmission by checking the telephone number displayed on the fax machine screen before transmitting it."

Outcome:

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

Related Reports:

1 other violation reported on the same date. Note that other citations may be about the same event: SZQN11.01