ST MARY MEDICAL CENTER

Report ID: VFR811.01, California Department of Public Health

Reported Entity: ST MARY MEDICAL CENTER

Issue:

Based on interview and record review, the facility failed to protect Patient A's medical information. This breach caused Patient A's protected health care information to be released.Findings:The facility self reported to the Department on 3/5/12 that the health information was inadvertently faxed to another health care facility. The report stipulated that the faxed health information included 3 imaging reports, a discharge summary, and an echocardiogram that contains patient's name, date of birth, medical record number and account number. During an interview with the Health Information Management Director on 3/9/12 at 11:00 AM, the Director stated that a new employee faxed the health information to another facility without checking, just grabbed the printed copy from the printer without checking. The employee "Did not flip them for correct patient before faxing." The policy and procedure titled "HIPAA - Disclosure of Protected Health Information (PHI) by Fax or Printer", effective date of 9/2006. The policy stipulated that all ... employees will take precautions when using facsimile machines and printers to transmit and copy protected health information. The facility's faxing guidelines included, "Double check all pages of your copies/print outs before sending your fax to ensure that the patient name matches the request."

Outcome:

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

Related Reports:

1 other violation reported on the same date. Note that other citations may be about the same event: KKW911.01