RIVERSIDE COUNTY REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

Report ID: 7D8311.01, California Department of Public Health

Reported Entity: RIVERSIDE COUNTY REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

Issue:

Based on interview and facility document review, the facility failed to prevent unauthorized access and/or disclosure of Patient 1's medical information, when a imaging report was inadvertently mailed to a different patient with the same name. This failure had the potential to result in misuse of private/protected information.Findings:On June 6, 2013, at 2 p.m., the Privacy Officer (PO), was interviewed. The PO stated, Patient 1 scheduled an appointment for breast imaging in the Radiology Department. She stated at the time the appointment was scheduled, the staff (Staff 1) affixed a mailing label to an envelope in order to prepare to mail the result to Patient 1. The PO stated, Staff 1 inadvertently affixed the address label for Patient 2 (who had the same name as Patient 1) to Patient 1's envelope. The PO stated, as a result of this mix up, Patient 2 received Patient 1's breast imaging report. Patient 2 alerted the facility of the breach on March 22, 2013. The report contained Patient 1's name, birthdate, and result of breast imaging.The facility policy titled, "Patient Privacy, Confidentiality, Medical Records, and Access to, or Release or Disclosure of, Patient Information (revised January 2, 2009)" was reviewed. The policy indicated: "Purpose: To protect patients' right to privacy and security of their healthcare information......Personnel shall maintain the confidentiality/privacy of information contained in the medical records of patients and, except for the purposes of treatment, payment, or healthcare operations, shall not disclose patient information without the patient's written authorization......Medical Information: Any individually identifiable information, in electronic or physical form, in possession of or derived from a provider of health care, health care service plan, pharmaceutical company, or contractor regarding a patient's medical history, mental or physical condition, or treatment......Individually Identifiable Information: The medical information includes or contains any element of personal identifying information sufficient to allow identification of the individual, such as the patient's name...or other information that, alone or in combination with other publicly available information reveals the individual's identity..."

Outcome:

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

Related Reports:

3 other violations reported on the same date. Note that other citations may be about the same event: 4VQL11.01, BCV511.01, RPXO11.01