Unsecured Treatment Cart and Exposed PHI
Penalty
No penalty information released
The penalty, as released by CMS, applies to the entire inspection this citation is part of, covering all citations and f-tags issued, not just this specific f-tag. For the complete original report, please refer to the 'Details' section.
Summary
A deficiency occurred when a treatment cart containing stock medications, treatment supplies, and insulin was left unsecured and unsupervised outside a resident's room. The cart's laptop was open and displayed the resident's picture and protected health information (PHI) in direct view. A licensed nurse was observed exiting the resident's room and stated uncertainty about whether medication carts should be locked, but indicated she would lock them during the survey inspection. The nurse also acknowledged that PHI should not be left open on computers when unattended. The facility's policy requires staff to ensure computers are locked or placed in hidden mode when not in use to protect resident privacy.