California Department of Public Health

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

Related Articles:
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CA hospital forced to stop cardiac surgeries due to infections

Thu, 29 May 2008 06:59:54 -0400

A Fresno hospital has been forced to stop performing open-heart surgeries while state public health authorities investigate a new surge in post-operative infections.

Last year, the CDC investigated bacterial infections that made at least a dozen patients at Saint Agnes Medical Center sick, and possibly contributed to two deaths. At the time, the CDC noted a surgeon with an abnormally high number of affected patients, but was unable to pinpoint a cause for the infections. Earlier this year, state health investigators found no health violations after inspecting the cardiac surgery unit.

The hospital is still performing emergency heart surgeries, but the California Department of Public Health recommended this weekend that the facility stop performing non-emergency procedures.

To learn more about the infections:
- read this piece in the San Francisco Chronicle

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CA fines 13 hospitals for placing patients at risk

Thu, 22 May 2008 06:59:56 -0400

The California Department of Public Health has disciplined 13 hospitals for placing patients at risk of serious injury or death, fining each $25,000. The agency, which has issued 39 citations since October, won the right to fine facilities for serious violations of patient safety in 2007. Violations included a case in which a car crash victim died at Los Angeles-based public hospital Harbor-UCLA after nurses failed to monitor the patient's failing neurological condition. In another case, Olive View-UCLA was cited when a resident attempted a surgical procedure, handed the patient to another doctor, and failed to communicate that a patient's small intestine may have been perforated in the process.

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

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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

Related Articles:
UCLA staff accused of viewing Britney Spears' records
Union fights suspensions for workers viewing star's records
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