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U. Colorado Health Notifies 827 Patients That Employee Snooped in Their Records

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Dissent

From their public notice:

UCHealth in northern Colorado is notifying approximately 800 patients that an employee inappropriately accessed their electronic medical record information. Letters to these patients have already been mailed, and affected patients will receive the letters over the coming days.

The privacy and confidentiality of patients’ medical record information is a priority, and UCHealth regularly audits employees to ensure strict compliance with HIPAA regulations. One of these audits and a subsequent investigation discovered that an employee was viewing patients’ charts out of personal curiosity, even if he/she was not providing direct care to that patient.

The employee was able to see patients’ names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, insurance information, and a description of the care and treatment received during a visit. However, the employee was not able to access Social Security numbers or other personal, financial information. There is no evidence at this time that the staff member shared this information with anyone else.

UCHealth takes its obligations to protect healthcare information very seriously. This staff member’s employment with UCHealth has been terminated. Re-training has been given to all employees to re-emphasize that staff can only view health records of patients for whom they are actively providing care.  All employees also will continue to receive annual training on how to properly access healthcare information.

Patients who have questions may call (844) 470-1755 to speak to UCHealth’s director of compliance and privacy.

The incident has already been posted on HHS’s public breach tool.

A spokesperson for UCHealth informs DataBreaches.net that the employee was a nurse at nurse at Poudre Valley Hospital, but was unable to tell this site when the inappropriate access began and when it was first detected.

The incident does show the value of access controls and routine audits. This incident could have been even more costly for the hospital if the nurse had been able to access SSN and insurance or financial information.

Related posts:

  • Audits of New York schools and the State Education Department reveal ongoing significant concerns
  • Small-Scale Violations of Medical Privacy Often Cause the Most Harm
Category: Health DataInsiderU.S.

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