Scripps Mercy Hospital

Report ID: HBBJ11.02, California Department of Public Health

Reported Entity: SCRIPPS MERCY HOSPITAL

Issue:

Based on interview and record review, the hospital failed to maintain 1 of 1 sampled patients' (Patient 1) rights to privacy and confidentiality of their medical record information. Findings:An onsite visit of the hospital was conducted on 2/10/12, in response to an entity reported incident involving the inadvertent and unauthorized release of medical record information of Patient 1 to another patient.On 2/10/12 at 8:30 A.M., an interview was conducted with the director of risk management and patient relations regarding the above entity reported incident. It was determined that a family member of Patient 1 had requested a copy of Patient 1's Emergency Department medical record. The copy of the medical record however, was inadvertently mailed by a facility Health Information Correspondence (HIC) staff to another patient. The documents sent to the wrong patient included: Patient 1's personal information, consent for a procedure, physician's physical examination findings, patient's diagnoses, nursing assessment records, list of medications, diagnostic test results and Patient 1's physician's orders. The HIC staff's failure to check and validate the right documents were mailed to the right patient's family member, resulted in the unauthorized disclosure of Patient 1's personal and medical information and a violation of Patient 1's right to privacy and confidentiality of their health information. The Department verified that the facility had informed the patient's authorized family member of the event by the time the report was made.

Outcome:

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

Related Reports:

The report containing this deficiency also includes information about 1 other violation. Note that these may be related to the same event: HBBJ11.01