You have recently been promoted to Health Services Manager at Three Mountains Regional Hospital, a small hospital located in a mid-size city in the Midwest. Three Mountains is a general medical and surgical facility with 400 beds. Last year there were approximately 62,000 emergency visits and 15,000 admissions. More than 6,000 outpatient and 10,000 inpatient surgeries were performed. Three Mountains was recently in the news after employee emails were published where patients were discussed in very negative terms.
Due to the breach of information, many patients are skeptical about selecting Three Mountains as their hospital of choice. Even though specific names of patients were not disclosed as part of the inappropriate dissemination of information, parts of their medical records were mentioned. The patient information was not shared in a favorable light. Patients want to feel secure when they share information with their healthcare providers and be certain that it will remain private.
