ST HELENA HOSPITAL-CLEARLAKE

Report ID: V2VO11.04, California Department of Public Health

Reported Entity: ST HELENA HOSPITAL-CLEARLAKE

Issue:

Based on staff interviews and record review, the facility failed to notify Patient 2 and the Department of a breach of confidential information for greater than five days after the facility became aware of the incident. Findings:During an interview, on 8/05/14, Staff A confirmed that on 4/30/13, identification labels, which included Patient 2's name, date of birth, age, medical record and account numbers, date of service and the name of the patient's physician, were inadvertently given to Patient 3, who was not involved with care of Patient 2 and not authorized to receive the information. Staff A stated that the labels were attached to Patient 3's discharge information.Review of the documents submitted by the facility revealed that the facility became aware of the error on 5/01/13 when Patient 3's care giver returned the labels to the facility.A telephone interview with Staff A, on 10/07/14, confirmed the dates of the incident and the notification. The facility failed to report the breach, which occurred on 4/30/13, and identified by the facility on 5/01/13, within the five days as required by regulation. The documents revealed that a notification letter was sent to Patient 2 on 5/16/13, and notification of the Department was also done on 5/16/13. This notification was 15 days after the facility became aware of the incident and eight days after the five days allotted for the notification, by the regulation.

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 4 other violations. Note that these may be related to the same event: V2VO11.01, V2VO11.02, V2VO11.03, V2VO11.05

5 other violations reported on the same date. Note that other citations may be about the same event: 03H411.01, 07JM11.01, 1WHK11.01, MCXY11.01, YWLC11.01