SUTTER COAST HOSPITAL

Report ID: RNTD11.01, California Department of Public Health

Reported Entity: SUTTER COAST HOSPITAL

Issue:

Based on interview, clinical record and administrative document review, the hospital failed to keep personal health information confidential when Patient 15's personal information was inadvertently faxed to an outside facility 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, on 11/27/1, personal and medical information for Patient 15 was 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 11/27/12 and informed the Department on 12/03/12. The error occurred when hospital staff transmitted the wrong patient's file to an agency requesting a file for a patient with the same name. He confirmed the information which was sent. Review of administrative documents revealed that the information transmitted included the name, medical record number, date of birth and medical information related to the patient's visit to the Emergency Department.The incident occurred as a result of human error when the employee pulled and faxed a file for this patient when the request was for a patient with the same name. The employee failed to reconcile the name thru the use of a second identifier, such as the date of birth.

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, BS4A11.01, CNNJ11.01, DIP511.01, G7V411.01, HX4711.01, IDNS11.01, ITB911.01, NITG11.01, UW5511.01, Z2G411.01