Friday, Feb. 21, 2003 | 11:32 a.m.
A Wisconsin publishing company executive said he has received confidential medical records of at least 20 patients of Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.
Franklynn Peterson, editor of the CPA Computer Report newsletter based in Madison, Wis., said Thursday that he alerted the hospital about six months ago that the records were being faxed by doctors' offices to his toll-free number at (800) 260-1120 rather than the (866) 260-1120 number used by Sunrise.
"It's really annoying to have one of our lines tied up by these faxes," Peterson said. "I just received one on someone who was a manic depressive on lithium. I can tell you all the medication this person has been taking."
Peterson said he spoke with a woman in the hospital's administration office and that "she was quite concerned and said she would take care of it."
"That was at least six months ago," Peterson said.
He also said he complained to the state Board of Medical Examiners and was told to fill out a complaint form. But he said he did not do so because the form would only address complaints about a specific doctor. He said the person he spoke to couldn't have cared less "that Las Vegas patients were being maltreated."
Thursday, he said he received records for yet another patient. He said the records are being sent by Las Vegas doctors who are using a "Physician's Orders" form that is filled out before a patient is admitted to Sunrise.
The form includes the patient's name, address, birth date, Social Security number, health insurance number and other information about his medical condition.
"Just think of how easy it would be for me to do an identity theft," Peterson said.
After being contacted by the Las Vegas Sun, Sunrise spokeswoman Cheryl Smith said that the hospital's "facility privacy officer" would investigate the situation and take corrective measures. Smith said it is possible that when Peterson first complained his call was "misrouted."
"If there's a problem, we certainly want to address the situation and remedy it," Smith said. "We're on it and it will be resolved."
The state board also assigned its chief investigator to the case after being contacted by the Sun.
Peterson's 800 number is a voice line. But when a fax machine repeatedly dials that number to send a fax, he said he has been forced to plug his fax machine into that line just to get the phone to stop ringing. He then ends up with unwanted faxes of medical records, some at least 10 pages long.
He said he shreds the records and actually watches the garbage when it is being collected by the local municipal trash-hauler. That's because his company, P/K Associates Inc., also destroys software that it does not want to get into the hands of competitors.
Before he destroys the medical records, however, Peterson said he has routinely sent letters to the doctors or medical practices to inform them that they have faxed confidential information to the wrong place.
"I notify them that an ambulance chaser will pursue this if it continues, and that usually stops them," he said.
Shawn Foley, chief executive of Nevada Heart and Vascular Center in Las Vegas, said he was unaware that his office had faxed medical records earlier this month to Peterson, as he alleged.
"You're kidding me," Foley said. "Oh, my gosh."
Foley, who vowed to investigate the matter, said it is possible that the misplaced faxes were the result of human error by individuals who work in doctors' offices. In his business, he said, such faxes are normally sent by nurses or administrative assistants. But he also said Sunrise may want to review the necessity of using a toll-free 866 number to receive such faxes from local doctors.
"The hospital needs to change its phone number," Foley said. "I don't know why they'd be using a toll-free number."
In at least one case, Peterson said the correct fax number for Sunrise was neatly handwritten on a medical form that was sent to his office anyway.
A new federal patient privacy law that governs electronically protected health information will go into effect April 14. The intent of the law is to make sure medical records don't get into the wrong hands.
Dr. Cheryl Hug-English, president of the state medical board, said that makes the timing of the mistaken faxes to Peterson even more troubling. Nevada hospitals and doctors' offices are "scrambling" to make sure they comply with the new regulation, she said.
Hug-English said she was unaware that confidential medical records meant for Sunrise were being sent to Peterson. But she said the new law was designed to eliminate this type of problem.
Peterson said he is preparing to publish a report that will provide tips to CPAs and consultants about how to keep their medical clients compliant with the new law.
Hug-English also said that "if a particular medical office was doing this repeatedly, that office has a real problem. Certainly that would be inappropriate and the board would get involved."
Peterson said that early on he noticed that certain medical offices had used the wrong fax number more than once. But recently he said the faxes were coming from separate offices.
UNLV ethics professor Craig Walton said the dispatch of medical records to the wrong location raises ethical issues because patients put their trust in doctors and hospitals.
He said it is possible in this instance that both the medical offices and Sunrise are at fault. He said the medical offices need to make sure that they are sending faxes to the right phone number and the hospital needs to make certain that doctors are using the correct number.
"It's a question of responsibility," Walton said. "They're going to have to deal with the fact that 1-800 numbers are no longer the only toll-free numbers."
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