RI Chief Medical Examiner Placed on Leave Following Accreditation Downgrade
GoLocalProv News Team
RI Chief Medical Examiner Placed on Leave Following Accreditation Downgrade
"[Stanley] has been placed on administrative leave as of today," said Christina Batastini, public information officer for the Department of Health. "When our new Director of Health took office, she made it clear that she was going to address the structure, staffing, and leadership in the department, and this review and paid leave was part of that process."
Batastini said that she couldn't go into further detail, including when -- or if -- Stanley would return to her job, or if it was related to the state losing its full accreditation.
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The Department of Health Provided the following statements on its accreditation loss and placement on "provisional accreditation"
The office applied for continued re-accreditation by the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME) on 12/10/14. We were inspected on 4/6/15. On June 1, 2015 a letter was sent from NAME confirming that the OSME must improve its report turn-around time and staffing for investigations to meet NAME's 2014-2019 standards for full accreditation. We have until 12/10/15 to submit documentation of improvement for consideration for full accreditation or continued provisional accreditation.
At the time of the office's NAME inspections in 2009-10, the number of staff at the OSME was larger and included an investigator position that was never filled. Fortunately, most of the other positions eliminated from the OSME since the 2010 full accreditation have been restored but only over the last 3 years.
The office said that a link to the definition of full -- and provisional -- accreditation can be found here.
Working on Improvements
The Health department addresses how it plans to move forward
We are currently working on improving report turnaround and staffing for investigations. Since the April inspection, reclassifications of existing OSME employees have been put in place that provide more staffing for investigations which will hopefully rectify this deficiency. The office is also recruiting a forensic pathologist/assistant medical examiner to fill a recent vacancy (Not present at the time of the inspection.)
In 2013, the OSME finished 78% of examination reports in 90 days. In 2014, 74% were finished in 90 days.
At the time of the NAME Inspection in April, the OSME had only 5 Medical Examiner Investigators to triage phone calls and faxes that the OSME receives regarding over 5,000 deaths reported to the OSME each year. As part of this triage and extensive investigation performed for deaths that are accepted under OSME jurisdiction, the investigators must contact physicians, hospitals, clinics, police and decedents' families for more information, request medical records, and travel about the state to perform scene investigations 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
In 2014, the OSME investigators performed over 500 death scene investigations compared with under 300 in 2008 and 2009. Delays and missing investigative information results in more work for the medical examiners (physicians) and affects their timeliness in determination of final cause and manner of death and completion of examination reports.
Health Data Security Breaches Reported in RI Since 2010
#7
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island (RI)
Individuals Affected: 528
Breach Submission Date: 2/16/10
Type of Breach: Other
Location of Breached Information: Paper/Films
Notes:
On January 5, 2010, BCBSRI was notified that a 16 page report pertaining to Brown University's health plan was impermissibly disclosed to two other BCBSRI agents. The reports contained the PHI of approximately 528 individuals. The PHI involved: first and last names, dates of service, cost of medical care provided, and member identification numbers. Following the breach, BCBSRI recovered the reports, received written assurances that any electronic copies of the reports were deleted, notified affected individuals of the breach, implemented new procedure for all outgoing correspondence, and is in the process of auditing all affected member's claim history to ensure no fraud.
#6
Landmark Medical Center (RI)
Individuals Affected: 683
Breach Submission Date: 11/30/12
Type of Breach: Theft
Location of Breached Information: Laptop
Notes: N/A
#5
CVS Caremark (RI)
Individuals Affected: 955
Breach Submission Date: 10/26/12
Type of Breach: Theft
Location of Breached Information: Paper/Films
Notes:
"This involved the theft of a pharmacy log book from one of our stores in Columbia, South Carolina back in October 2012. We submitted a report to the OCR in compliance with their reporting requirements. The information in the log book stolen from our Columbia, SC store did not contain any medication, credit card, debit card or bank account information," said CVS Director of Public Relations Mike DeAngelis. "At the time, we sent a notice to patients in Columbia whose information was contained in the log book about the theft. There were no fines associated with this theft. CVS has since moved to an electronic verification system in our pharmacies and we no longer use a paper log book."
#4
The Kent Center (RI)
Individuals Affected: 1361
Breach Submission Date: 9/10/10
Type of Breach: Theft
Location of Breached Information: Paper/Films
Notes:
The Kent Center in Rhode Island reported that paper records of 1,361 patients were stolen in July. In a notification linked from the homepage of their web site, they write, in part:
On July 13, 2010, a briefcase was stolen from the car of one of our clinicians. Documents in the briefcase included client names, dates of birth, and for some clients involved in the court system, limited clinical information. This did not affect all of the clients we have ever treated and the individuals it did affect have been sent written notifications. We learned about this incident the same day and it has been reported to the Providence Police Department. The briefcase resembled a laptop carrying case and we have no reason to believe the documents in the briefcase were the target of the theft. Other items in the car were stolen and the police informed our employee that there were several car break-ins on the same night in the area.
No financial information, such as social security numbers, addresses, insurance information, guarantor information, credit or debit card information or bank account numbers were included in the documents contained in the briefcase.
Source: PHIPrivacy.net
#3
Rite-Aid (RI)
Individuals Affected: 2082
Breach Submission Date: 3/29/13
Type of Breach: Other
Location of Breached Information: Paper/Film
Notes:
On Feb. 8, 2013, Rite Aid Store No. 10217 located at 236 County Rd. in Barrington, RI, determined that a few boxes containing prescription records were found to be missing during a review of the stores’ records. An exhaustive search of the store was conducted and an investigation was completed to determine what happened to the records, but despite our efforts, the boxes could not be found.
It is important to note that the hard copy prescriptions missing from Rite Aid Store No. 10217 do not contain any credit card numbers or social security numbers. There is no evidence to support that any customer information has been misused. As a precaution, the company has engaged the world’s leading risk consulting company Kroll Inc., to alert impacted customers via a letter of notification and share with them the proactive measures it has taken to guard against identity theft. Customers who did not receive a notification letter were likely not affected. No files from any other Rite Aid store were involved.
#2
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island (RI)
Individuals Affected: 12,000
Breach Submission Date: 4/21/10
Type of Breach: Theft
Location of Breached Information: Paper/Films
Notes:
A covered entity (CE) donated a file cabinet containing the protected health information (PHI) of 12,000 individuals before cleaning it out. The PHI included member's names, addresses, telephone numbers, social security numbers, and Medicare identification numbers. The covered entity (CE) provided breach notification to HHS, the affected individuals, and media, and offered all affected individuals free credit monitoring for a period of one year. Following the breach, the CE sanctioned the employees involved in the incident and held a mandatory training regarding the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rule for all departments involved in the breach. The CE also revised the policy for office moves. OCR obtained assurances that the CE implemented the corrective action listed above.
#1
Woman and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island (RI)
Individuals Affected: 14,004
Breach Submission Date: 11/5/12
Type of Breach: Loss
Location of Breached Information: Other
Notes:
Women & Infants Hospital announced that on September 13, 2012, the hospital discovered that unencrypted backup tapes containing ultrasound images from two of its ambulatory sites located at 79 Plain Street in Providence, RI and 67 Brigham Street in New Bedford, MA were missing. The hospital immediately began an investigation and conducted a thorough search of its facilities but has been unable to locate the backup tapes.
The backup tapes contained ultrasound studies dating from 1993 to 1997 in Providence and from 2002 to 2007 in New Bedford and included patient names, dates of birth, dates of exam, physicians’ names, patient ultrasound images, and, in some instances, Social Security numbers.
