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Fundraising efforts by hospitals puts patients’ private information at risk

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, May 28, 2008

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Many hospitals use patient demographic information, collected willingly from patients, to boost fundraising efforts. Patients often sign medical forms authorizing this information to be distributed written in the fine print. This practice is an important one for hospitals to help finance new services and attract new patients to the facility or entice patients to return for future medical needs. However, patients at a San Francisco-area hospital were shocked to learn more than their demographic information was posted on the Internet, including type of treatment they had received and their names, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

The University of California San Francisco unintentionally posted the private information of more than 6,300 patients on the Internet after sharing the data with a company that coordinates fundraising efforts. Since the unlawful breach the CEO has said the hospital will reexamine its fundraising tactics, but the question 'How much information is too much to give to patients at admission?' has been raised. Many doctors feel that this type of information release will force patients to be untrusting of doctors important medical questions.

To read the article, click here.

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