SUTTER COAST HOSPITAL

Report ID: BS4A11.01, California Department of Public Health

Reported Entity: SUTTER COAST HOSPITAL

Issue:

Based on interview, clinical record and administrative document review, the facility failed to keep personal health information confidential when Patient 22's personal information was inadvertently faxed to an agency not involved in the patient's care and not authorized to have this information. This failure resulted in a breach of confidentiality and possible unauthorized use of the information.Findings:In an interview, on 12/20/12 at 10:30 a.m., the Privacy Officer stated that, in May of 2012, personal and medical information for Patient 22 was inadvertently faxed to an outside agency not involved in this patient's care. He stated that he first became aware of the breach of confidentiality on 10/30/12 and informed the Department on 11/02/12. The error occurred when staff included a document in another patient's record and faxed the record to an outside agency. He confirmed the information which was sent. Review of administrative documents revealed that the information transmitted included the name, date of birth, age, gender, medical record number and a form indicating HIV information, but not authorizing the sharing of the results. The incident occurred as a result of human error when the employee included the form in another record without verifying the correctness of the identification before transmitting the information by fax..

Outcome:

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

Related Reports:

15 other violations reported on the same date. Note that other citations may be about the same event: 02WQ11.01, 0MP211.01, 6JR911.01, 6Q7T11.01, 9ITP11.01, CNNJ11.01, DIP511.01, G7V411.01, HX4711.01, IDNS11.01, ITB911.01, NITG11.01, RNTD11.01, UW5511.01, Z2G411.01