Even after UCLA Medical Center warned employees that it was cracking down on unauthorized access to medical records, the privacy of a "well-known individual" was breached by two nurses and an emergency room technician who called up the patient's computerized records in mid-April, according to a critical state report released Monday.
The California Department of Public Health also found that nearly twice as many medical center employees as had previously been reported peeked at confidential medical records at UCLA. Nearly 60 additional employees gained improper access to records between January 2004 and June 2006, the report said, bringing the total number of workers implicated in the growing scandal to 127.
Monday's report was the fifth by the public health agency following articles in The Times this year about UCLA employees' prying into the records of celebrities and prominent patients, including California First Lady Maria Shriver, actress Farrah Fawcett and singer Britney Spears.
State regulators continue to fault the hospital for failure to take adequate steps to maintain patient confidentiality. After the April violations, the report said, one nurse was fired and the two other employees received warnings.
The latest findings detail how one employee -- a former administrative specialist who faces federal criminal charges for violating Fawcett's privacy -- looked at the records of 939 patients "without any legitimate reason" from April 2003 to May 2007. In previous reports, the state had linked her to viewing the records of about 60 patients. She also looked at other personal information, including Social Security numbers, the state now says.
"What we're seeing here is a clear pattern of repeated violations of patient medical records and patient confidentiality by UCLA," said Kim Belshe, secretary of the state's Health and Human Services Agency. "It is absolutely unacceptable."
Kathleen Billingsley, director of the state health department's Center for Healthcare Quality, confirmed that 127 UCLA workers have been implicated and said investigations into other breaches at the hospital continue.
"What's startling to us is, as we get to a point where we feel we've addressed a specific complaint and a specific issue, we identify additional issues," she said. "It's very disturbing to see this."
