PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, the covered entity (CE), reported an impermissible use of protected health information (PHI) by a nurse accessed patients’ data without a business reason to do so. The breach affected approximately 1,969 individuals and the types of PHI included demographic and clinical information. The CE provided breach notification to HHS, affected individuals, and the media, and also provided substitute notification. Following the breach, the CE immediately revoked the employee’s access to PHI and conducted a thorough audit of the employee’s medical record access covering the entire term of her employment. The CE subsequently sanctioned the employee responsible for the incident and reported the employee to the Washington State Board of Nursing. During the investigation, the CE implemented new technical safeguards and reminded employees to access, use, and disclose PHI only within the scope of their employment. OCR obtained assurances that the CE implemented the corrective actions listed above.
