Sophisticated AI tool identifies chart breaches, prompts physician questions
Physicians who receive a call or an email from hospital compliance officers about unexpected access to patient charts should know we trust you and believe there is a legitimate, best-patient-care reason for your activity. We simply need to know what it is so we can clear the alert.
Feel like you’ve just entered the middle of a conversation? Let’s go back to the beginning.
In 2022, then-SCL Health implemented an artificial intelligence-based tool systemwide to monitor access into patient records and flag users who have unexpectedly reviewed patient information for reasons not immediately obvious, such as, in the course of patient care.
It worked. In just the first few weeks, numerous incidents of inappropriate access to PHI by physicians was discovered and flagged.
As a reminder, all physicians signed a Confidentiality Agreement when they joined the medical staff, in which they acknowledge they will access a patient chart only if needed to provide care. Violations of this agreement will continue to be managed through the medical staff process. Each security alert is handled on a case-by-case basis and can include an exploratory phone call or email from Compliance or Medical Staff Services, counseling from medical staff leadership on the importance of respecting patient privacy, and electronic tracking of the physician’s Epic account, among other measures.
Multiple violations or those that are particularly egregious could result in disciplinary action.
But again, when fielding that first call or email from Compliance or Medical Staff Services, please remember at that point in the process we’re just looking for information.
“There are legitimate reasons why physicians might access the chart of a patient with whom they do not have a clinical relationship. Often it is to become familiar with a patient who is about to be referred to them,” said Toni Green-Cheatwood, DO, ACMO for Colorado acute care services. “Discovering the reason – listening to the physician’s side of the story – is the purpose of the initial contact. Any physician who’s accessed a chart for a legitimate reason will be immediately cleared.”
Physicians with questions about policies regarding PHI or the Confidentiality Agreement they signed can contact Georgeann Bell in Medical Staff Services.