medical records

FL hospital employees fired after peeking at NFL player's records

Dan Bowman — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:44:27 -0500

First Hollywood celebrities, now professional athletes? According to Modern Healthcare, 20 employees at Shands Jacksonville Medical Center were fired after viewing and discussing the medical records of Jacksonville Jaguars player Richard Collier. Collier was admitted after being shot 14 times on Sept. 2; he later had to have his left leg amputated.

The former employees apparently "peeked" at Collier's files "out of curiosity," and also told people inside the hospital what floor Collier was staying. "From the day you step in the door, it doesn't matter if you're a janitor or a doctor, there's constant training on it," hospital spokeswoman Kelly Brockmeier said. Still, Doug Martin, a spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Florida Council 79, believes that the punishment did not fit the crime.

"To what is alleged, firing is a disproportionate response," he said. The player's "identity was not stolen. Information was not leaked to the media. Police investigations were not compromised."

For more:
- read this Modern Healthcare article

U of California facility placed under state supervision

Anne Zieger — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:22:38 -0400

Citing its anesthesiology department's "inability to provide quality healthcare in a safe environment," the University of California, Irvine Medical Center has been placed under state supervision. Among the problems cited by CMS inspectors was the egregious practice of filling out medical records before a procedure was done in order to suggest certain outcomes were achieved.

CMS has accepted Irvine Medical Center's correction plan, but could still yank its certification if it doesn't clean up its act. The facility will remain under the state's oversight until a second inspection confirms that the required corrections have been made.

The inspection, which was prompted by a whistleblower complaint, listed problems dating back at least three years, including inadequate equipment checks and staffing and poor record-keeping. This follows a 2003 letter to the leadership by 26 professors, who argued that the school was putting financial goals over academic goals.

Since the original whistleblower complaint, the school has hired six new faculty members, bought more than $4 million in operating room equipment and monitors, and installed a new anesthesia information monitoring system that won't allow records to be filled out in advance.

To learn more about this controversy:
- read this Los Angeles Times piece

Related Articles:
CMS: Harbor-UCLA places patients in jeopardy

Study: Hospitalized kids suffer too many infections

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 06:59:54 -0400

A new study released this week concludes that hospitalized children suffer a high rate of infections and other preventable complications that lead to longer stays and cost millions of dollars. The study, which appears in this month's issue of the journal Pediatrics, found that some types of complications occurred in as many as 4 percent of children treated at 38 children's hospitals in the U.S., in part because children are three times more susceptible to infections in hospitals than adults.

To conduct the study, researchers looked at medical records from thousands of children hospitalized in 2006, looking for 12 adverse events identified by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. They found that of 430,000 children hospitalized in 2006, more than 6,600 suffered complications caused by their care, including nearly 3,000 cases of infections caused by care. Complications increased lengths of stay from three days for an accidental laceration to 24 days for sepsis. Added costs ranged from $35,000 to $337,000, researchers concluded.

To learn more about the study:
- read this piece in The Seattle Times

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Quality studies proposed for children's healthcare
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More UCLA staffers cited for record snooping

Tue, 13 May 2008 06:59:58 -0400

California regulators have identified an additional 14 staffers connected with UCLA Medical Center who improperly viewed celebrity medical records. This brings the total number of current and former staffers found to have snooped on such records to 68. UCLA previously announced that it was investigating 13 staff members for accessing Britney Spears's medical records.

California's Department of Public Health, which sent a report to the hospital on the issue last week, faulted the hospital for failing to maintain patient confidentiality and report breaches to regulators. According to the regulators, the hospital was unaware that the 14 people had looked at the records, despite the fact that one of them was the co-worker of Lawanda Jackson, a former administrative specialist with the hospital who has been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly selling information to the news media from celebrity medical records.

To learn more about UCLA's confidentiality problem:
- read this Los Angeles Times article

Related Articles:
UCLA staff accused of viewing Britney Spears's records
Union fights suspensions for viewing star's records
Park Nicollet suspends employees for EMR snooping

Trend: Identity thieves get better at stealing medical records

Wed, 07 May 2008 06:59:57 -0400

Recently, identity thieves have become increasingly focused on stealing medical records--and have begun using better methods to get patient data, too. Medical records offer a rich trove of information for an identity thief, often including not only health insurance account numbers and billing addresses, but also dates of birth, Social Security numbers and even credit information. Given the richness of patient records, thieves may make more money stealing them than they would by going after credit card numbers or bank accounts directly. Worse, the thieves are getting more skilled at such thefts. While providers often encrypt their data, thieves often work with insiders who can help them break through these security measures. Concerned about this trend, California and Arkansas now require that consumers be notified when their medical data is accessed, and federal legislators are considering a measure instituting similar requirements.

To learn more about medical record theft:
- read this USA Today article

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The growing problem of medical identity theft
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California expands health data breach rules

UCLA staffer indicted for sharing patient information

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:59:58 -0400

In a rare instance of prosecution for medical records disclosure, a former administrative staffer at UCLA Medical Center has been indicted by a federal grand jury, accused of selling celebrity medical information to the media. Lawanda Jackson allegedly sold information on 60 patients, including California first lady Maria Shriver and actress Farah Fawcett. If convicted, Jackson faces up to 10 years in prison.

Prosecutors say Jackson got at least $4,600 during the period from 2006 through mid-2007 for disclosing information on Fawcett to a media outlet. Jackson, for her part, denies that she sold the information, though she admits that she did look at the records.

To learn more about the indictment:
- read this Los Angeles Times article

Related Articles:
Report: UCLA privacy breaches happen often
UCLA staff accused of viewing Britney Spears' records
Union fights suspensions for workers viewing star's records
California expands health data breach rules

Louisiana MDs win legal battle over patient record disclosure

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 06:59:56 -0400

A group of Louisiana physicians have won their battle to keep their patients' records out of the hands of a pharmaceutical company--though they may face future challenges on the issue. The dispute comes as part of the Louisiana attorney general's suit against Janssen Pharmaceutic, which the state says has been illegally promoting off-label uses of Risperdal. The AG also is arguing that in so doing, Janssen defrauded the state's Medicaid program. Though no doctors or patients are parties to the suit, Janssen got a court order allowing it to subpoena physicians for the medical records of up to 6,000 Medicaid beneficiaries who received Risperdal prescriptions. The order also allowed the pharma to depose individual doctors on their Risperdal prescription decisions. However, the state's physicians contested the order, with judges concluding that Louisiana's laws governing medical privacy would invalidate the request.

To learn more about the case:
- read this AMNews article

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VA puts together travel nurse program

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 07:59:55 -0400

In an effort to cope with the nationwide shortage of nurses, the Department of Veterans Affairs has decided to create its own group of nurses whose job it is to travel and work throughout the agency's sprawling system. The Travel Nurse Corps, which will be headquartered at the Phoenix VA Health Care System, is starting out as a three year pilot program that will place up to 75 nurses at VA medical centers nationwide. The idea not only is to fill vacancies, but also to cut reliance on contractors and staff specialized services and procedures. The travel nurses may also be asked to help provide services to veterans based in rural areas.

To learn more about the program:
- read this press release

Related Articles:
VA program slashes MRSA infection rates. Report
VA to link genetic info to medical records. Report
VA loses track of $300M in mental health funds. Report
VA pledges better data security. Report

ALSO NOTED: FL medical records sold in Utah surplus store; Another retail clinic operator closes its doors; and much more...

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 07:59:50 -0400

> Big "oops!"...Somehow, a box of medical records from Florida got sold in a Utah surplus store this week. Article

> It looks like another retail clinic operator has hit the skids. Medical Marts, which operated three clinics in the Chicago metro, has closed its doors. Article

> So how did an aging, memory problem-ridden Miami surgeon linked to multiple patient deaths keep his license? Critics want to know. Article

> Not surprisingly, Pennsylvania hospitals targeted by a proposed revenue tax aren't exactly thrilled with the idea. Article

And Finally... Archaeologists have found evidence of brain surgery performed on a young woman almost 2,000 years ago. Article