State Concludes Investigation of Privacy Lapses at UCLA Hospitals
On Wednesday, a report released by the California Department of Public Health revealed that more than 1,000 patients' hospital records were inappropriately accessed by UCLA Hospital System employees, up about 100 since the state's last report, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Kathleen Billingsley, director of DPH's Center for Healthcare Quality, said the records of 1,041 patients have been breached, up from 939 identified in the August report.
In a statement, UCLA attributed the increase to breaches that it voluntary disclosed to the state after conducting an internal audit. The newly disclosed breaches occurred between January 2004 and June 2006 at the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA, according to the statement.
Billingsley said that the report concludes the state's investigation of medical privacy lapses at UCLA Hospital System unless other breaches are discovered.
The report stems from an investigation launched by the department after the Times published articles about UCLA employees improperly accessing the medical records of celebrity patients (Lin, Los Angeles Times, 10/30).
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