UCLA Medical Center

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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CA hospitals fined for dangerous deficiencies

Anne Zieger — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:04:31 -0400

The California Public Health Department has announced that it has fined 18 hospitals $25,000 per violation for deficiencies in their performance, citing them for administrative problems that could have led to patient harm if unchecked. The hospitals were fined for failing to protect patients. Incidents that triggered citations included five leading to patient deaths, one wrong-patient surgery and two cases in which objects were left in the body after surgery. The Department also found medication errors, as well as processes that didn't meet the hospitals' requirements for licensure. Most hospitals received one citation, but four hospitals got two, including Anaheim General Hospital, Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo, UCLA Medical Center in Torrance and San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital in Banning.

To learn more about the fines:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece (reg. req.)

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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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Japanese gang figures get liver transplants from UCLA

Fri, 30 May 2008 06:59:56 -0400

A new investigation by a daily newspaper has found that a top Japanese crime figure and three other men affiliated with Japanese organize crime groups received liver transplants from Los Angeles-based UCLA Medical Center, despite the ongoing scarcity of such organs for U.S. patients. The four surgeries were done between 2000 and 2004, a time during which more than 100 patients died awaiting liver transplants in the greater Los Angeles region. The surgeon involved was Dr. Ronald Busuttil, executive chairman of UCLA's surgery department, a world-renowned liver surgeon.

While it's not a crime to learn that U.S. hospitals have provided organ transplants to foreign patients or patients with criminal histories, it's a bit painful to hear for U.S. patients who have been waiting (and dying) on the U.S. organ donor list in a time of great organ scarcity, observers note. The physicians involved, meanwhile, say that they don't make moral judgments on patients and simply address medical need.

What galls some observers further is that the most prominent transplant recipient, gang leader Tadamasa Goto, was otherwise barred from the U.S. because of his criminal history, but got in because he struck a deal to help the FBI with information on U.S. activity by Japanese gangs. When he arrived in 2001, he got his liver, but provided little information to law enforcement, FBI officials say.

To learn more about the medical, legal and ethical issues involved in the transplants:
- read this Los Angeles Times article

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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

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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

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