And this, kids, is why you need to monitor employee access to patient records and audit over longer periods.
Kyle Spurr reports:
A caregiver at St. Charles Health System accessed nearly 2,500 patients’ electronic medical records without authorization from the hospital.
The caregiver told the hospital she viewed the files out of curiosity. Her actions are not considered criminal. She signed an affidavit stating she never used or shared any of the confidential patient information for the purpose of committing fraud, financial crimes or other crimes against the patients whose records she viewed.
On Jan. 16, the hospital launched an investigation and audit of all of the patient files accessed by the caregiver. The audit found between Oct. 8, 2014 and Jan. 16, the caregiver may have reviewed as many as 2,459 files containing patients’ names, addresses, dates of birth, health insurance information, driver’s license numbers and health information such as diagnoses, physicians’ names, medications and treatment information.
Read more on Bend Bulletin.