Unsecured Storage of Resident Health Information
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to securely store protected health information for its residents. During an observation, an unsecured resident room at the end of the East hall was found to contain three 4-drawer and one 5-drawer tall file cabinets, all unlocked, with loose papers and files on top. These documents included residents' names, birthdates, social security numbers, insurance information, laboratory results, and physician's progress notes. Two of the file cabinets contained additional resident clinical records. The Director of Nursing (DON) confirmed the unsecured state of the storage room and records, and acknowledged that facility policy requires all resident records to be kept behind locked doors with keys stored in the administrator's office.