Confidential health information from a large number of Salina Family Healthcare Center patients was inadvertently transmitted. Over 500 patients were notified on details about the unintentional incident.

According to the organization, on April 8th a staff member submitted a data base to the National Commission for Quality Assurance as a part of involvement in a care coordination research study. Inadvertently, a table that contained patient’s names, dates of birth, chart numbers, and codes associated with their care was left in the data base that was sent.

The National Commission for Quality Assurance staff member receiving the information immediately recognized the breach, and deleted the data base.

Salina officials were assured that the patient information was destroyed. The Salina organization took immediate action to deal with the situation including among other steps disciplining the employee involved and retraining employees on the importance of protecting private health information.

Salina Family Healthcare Center’s mission is to help patients who might not otherwise receive medical care.

The organization was formed through a merger of the Salina Health Education Foundation and Salina Cares. The Salina Health Education Foundation was founded in 1979 as a community based, non-profit family medicine residency program. The mission of the organization was to train family medicine physicians for rural Kansas. Salina Cares was founded in 1991 as a free clinic to serve the low income uninsured of Salina. The residency program began providing resident physicians to staff Salina Cares in 1998.

In early 2004, Salina Cares merged with SHEF and a new clinic name, Salina Family Healthcare Center was selected. It became a Federally Qualified Health Center on December 1, 2004.