Farrah Fawcett

UCLA snooping report released: More records compromised than previously thought

Anne Zieger — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:02:27 -0400

UCLA keeps having to admit that its medical records snooping problem is worse than it previously appeared. In August, the university medical center admitted that 939 patients had had their records improperly accessed. Now as the state investigation is concluding, they say the grand total was 1,041. The number of workers implicated has also gone up, from 127 to 165.

UCLA says that they have instituted several policies to try to prevent workers from snooping on records of high-profile patients like California first lady Maria Shriver, singer Britney Spears, and actress Farrah Fawcett. These new policies include periodic reviews of employees who have access to patient records, and requiring employees to give a reason why they are accessing records as they do so.

Still, when an institution cares for patients with such prominence, maybe some additional health IT protocols unique to such hospitals become necessary. (Call it the "celeb IT treatment.")

To learn more about this problem:
- Read this Los Angeles Times piece

CA proposes medical record privacy rules

Anne Zieger — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:42:12 -0400

The California legislature is considering a new bill that imposes health data privacy protections above and beyond those already required by HIPAA, alarmed by a recent rash of medical record snooping taking place at UCLA Medical Center. Legislators are responding to unauthorized peeping by employees at a wide range of records, including those of celebrities such as California First Lady Maria Shriver, Britney Spears and Farrah Fawcett.

Under a Senate measure, hospitals would be required to draft a plan to protect patient information. Meanwhile, the state would set up a new Office of Health Information Integrity, which would have the power to review plans and violations, as well as assess fines of up to $250,000 against people who violate patient record privacy. A companion bill, for its part, would allow fines of up to $250,000 against providers who breach patient record privacy.

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

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UCLA's medical record spying problem worse than thought

Anne Zieger — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:16:30 -0400

Despite vows that it was getting things in order, UCLA Medical Center still seems to have a problem with protecting the privacy of its medical records. According to a new report from the California Department of Public Health, the privacy of a high-profile patient was breached by two nurses and an emergency department tech in mid-April. What's more, the Department found that almost twice as many medical center employees as had previously been reported had improperly accessed records between January 2004 and June 2006. That brings the full total of workers implicated in records snooping to 127.

Previous investigations had found that UCLA employees had inappropriately viewed the records of several celebrities and high-profile patients, including actress Farrah Fawcett and singer Britney Spears. In one particularly egregious case, a former administrative specialist faces federal criminal charges for violating Fawcett's privacy, as well as 938 other patients, from April 2003 to May 2007.

UCLA's attempts to discipline the employees have varied. Of 59 employees newly linked to breaches by the Department of Public Health, 24 worked at UCLA when they were identified. The hospital is proposing to fire seven, suspend six for two to three weeks each and issue verbal or written warnings to eight others, with three remaining under investigation.

Spurred by incidents like these, California legislators have filed new legislation imposing fines of $1,000 to $25,000 on workers who unlawfully view patient records. Hospitals or other health facilities would face much larger fines of $25,000 to $250,000 for similar wrongdoing.

To learn more about UCLA's medical record snooping issues:
- read this piece from the Los Angeles Times

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Report: UCLA privacy breaches happen often

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 06:59:56 -0400

When a hospital treats celebrities, it's no surprise that employees will be tempted to get a peek at their records--as happened recently when employees improperly looked into records on singer Britney Spears and actress Farrah Fawcett. What's less forgivable, however, is if a hospital turns a blind eye to such snooping. That, in fact, is what has been happening at UCLA for quite some time, contends an investigative report published in the Los Angeles Times.

According to interviews conducted by the paper, executives have known of employee intrusions into patient records since at least 1995, when one group of workers was fired for looking for electronic records of celebrities like Tom Cruise and Dom DeLuise, and apparently didn't do much to tighten security. Over time, dozens of additional employees have been busted for similar violations, including one case in 2001 when a nurse looked at pop singer Mariah Carey's records, and another in which employees looked at records for former Beatle George Harrison--possibly because they were paid by a tabloid to do so.

On top of all that, in 2004 the Coalition of University Employees claimed in 2004 that two supervisors whose job it was to train staffers on then-new HIPAA legislation actually were looking into their subordinates' medical records. The supervisors remained on staff for a year after the incident.

The California Department of Public Health began investigating UCLA last month, when the Times reported that the hospital had fired 13 workers and disciplined 12 for looking into Spears' records.

To learn more about UCLA's security issues:
- read this Los Angeles Times article

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