CONTRA COSTA REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

Report ID: R6B811.01, California Department of Public Health

Reported Entity: CONTRA COSTA REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

Issue:

Based on interview and record review, the facility failed to prevent unauthorized access and disclosure of Patient 41's protected, confidential health information, when a prescription was given to the wrong patient. This person was not involved in the patient's care and not authorized to receive the information. This failure allowed for potential unlawful or unauthorized use of the information and violation of the patient's right to privacy. This could additionally result in incorrect medication being given to the patient receiving the prescription.Findings: During an interview on 9/16/14 at 11 a.m., the Compliance Officer confirmed that the patient's prescription had been given to the incorrect patient. She stated that the prescription was included with discharge documents being given to the person. She confirmed the information which was contained on the prescription.A review of the letter submitted by the facility revealed that the information released included the patient's name, medical record number, date of birth, address, phone number, date of service. attending physician, primary language and medical information related to the medication being ordered.The incident occurred due to the staff person's failure to follow protocol to use two identifiers to confirm the correct identity of the patient when transferring any documents to a patient.

Outcome:

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

Related Reports:

10 other violations reported on the same date. Note that other citations may be about the same event: 1VSU11.01, 5Z6Z11.01, CIK111.01, JNFO11.01, L9QP11.01, MFPP11.01, MFPP11.02, S5BC11.01, WW7B11.01, ZCRD11.01