EISENHOWER MEDICAL CENTER

Report ID: 35W311.01, California Department of Public Health

Reported Entity: EISENHOWER MEDICAL CENTER

Issue:

Based on interview and record review, the facility failed to ensure Protected Health Information (PHI) for one patient (Patient 1) was protected from unauthorization disclosure when her Medication Reconciliation Report was given to another patient. This failure resulted in the unauthorized disclosure and the potential for misuse of Patient 1's PHI. Findings:An interview was conducted with the Information Privacy Officer on August 14, 2015, at 11:30 a.m. He stated, "Medication Reconciliation Report, containing Patient 1's name, hospital medical record number, and account number, was given to another patient by Emergency staff on October 31, 2011. Patient 1 was notified of the information privacy breach of his protected health information (PHI) via a letter dated and mailed on November 4, 2011, to his last known address.The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) was notified by a letter dated and mailed on November 4, 2011, of the unauthorized disclosure of Patient 1's medical information.A review of the facility's policy titled, "Information Policy," was conducted on August 14, 2015. The policy indicated, "...the facility will take all necessary steps to avoid unauthorized or unlawful access, use or disclosure of protected health information and to mitigate any harmful effect that is known to the facility of an unauthorized or unlawful access, use or disclosure of protected health information in violation of the facility's policies and procedures."

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: XY2X11.01