San Diego Medical Center Did Not Report A Data Breach To State
Tri-City Medical Center, which says a longtime clerical clerk was dismissed for breaching patient data, did not report any such event to authorities. The dismissal came after the clerk backed a ballot initiative to reveal hospital executive pay. In other California hospital news, deaths are up following coronary artery bypass grafts.
Payers & Providers:
Hospital Never Self-Reported Breach
A clerical employee was fired from Tri-City Medical Center in San Diego County this week for an alleged breach of patient data that has not been reported to state authorities, Payers & Providers has learned. The dismissal of Cheryl Rhead, a 19-year-employee of the hospital and its lead admitting clerk for the emergency room, came just weeks after she became one of the head signatories for a San Diego County ballot initiative that would limit executive pay at Tri-City to $250,000 per year and require the district hospital to publich the compensation of its 10 highest-paid employees on its website if passed by voters. (Shinkman, 2/25)
Payers & Providers:
Hospital CABG Death Rate Up Slightly
The number of Californians dying as a result of undergoing coronary artery bypass grafts or CABG in 2013 is stable, although slightly elevated from the prior year, according to data released last week by the Office for Statewide Health Planning and Development. The mortality rate for isolated CABG procedures in California was 2.29% in 2013 – 273 patients died out of 11,940 procedures that were performed at the 125 hospitals surveyed. That is up from the 2012 morality rate of 2.11%, but remains significantly lower than the 2.91% mortality rate that was reported in 2003, the first year OSHPD began gathering and reporting on such data. (Shinkman, 2/25)