Atlanta VA Health Care System

Issue: Two Veterans received fecal occult blood test (FOBT) cards in the mail. One veteran opened his card and there was another Veteran's name inside with positive results. The other Veteran opened his card and found two other Veterans names' and…

Outcome: 06/09/15: The Incident Resolution Service Team has determined that three (3) Veterans will be sent HIPAA notification letters due to Protected Health Information (PHI) being disclosed.…

Issue: The Privacy Officer (PO) was made aware of an incident where research participants received the letters of each other due to a mis-mailing. The Veterans received a letter at their address with the following protected health information (PHI) for a…

Outcome: 04/15/15: The Incident Resolution Service Team has determined that Veteran B will be sent a HIPAA notification letter due to Protected Health Information (PHI) being disclosed.…

Issue: A Veteran reported that he believes his ex-wife who works at this VAMC has been accessing his CPRS chart without his authorization or need to know to perform her job functions. We have received the access log from the ISO…

Outcome: 04/01/15: The Incident Resolution Service Team has determined that Veteran A will be sent a HIPAA notification letter due to Protected Health Information (PHI) being disclosed.…

Issue: A Veteran's information was forwarded to the media without authorization. Unknown at this time who forwarded this information. Fact finding started on Friday 01/30/15.

Outcome: 02/02/15: IRST update - under investigation by OIG. 02/03/15: IRST update - TV news web page link http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/va-flagged-mother-who-killed-3-children-suicide-ri/nj2Dm/ copy if written portion in activity tab of ticket.…

Issue: A patient called to report that she had been to her Primary Care appointment yesterday. The nurse gave her a medication reconciliation sheet and another document. When she got home and looked at the documents she found there was a…

Outcome: 12/19/14: The Incident Resolution Service Team has determined that Patient B will be sent a letter offering credit protection services.…

Issue: On December 11, 2014, a NSC Veteran was evaluated in the Emergency Department and admitted to the VAMCs inpatient Mental Health unit for psychosis and hallucinations. It was discovered that this Veteran had erroneously been prescribed and mailed a drug…

Outcome: 12/12/14: The Incident Resolution Service Team has determined that Veteran B will be sent a HIPAA notification letter due to Protected Health Information (PHI) being disclosed.…

Issue: A Veteran presented to the Beneficiary Travel Office for benefits. A few weeks later he received a letter in the mail with another Veteran's information. He was also contacted by another Veteran who had received his form request and letter.…

Outcome: 11/24/14: The Incident Resolution Service Team has determined that both Veterans will be sent a letter offering credit protection services.…

Issue: A Veteran was given her discharge instructions from an Emergency Room provider. When the Veteran got home she realized that there were two pages of Veterans' information that were not hers. She states tried to call the hospital for months…

Outcome: 09/29/14: The Incident Resolution Service Team has determined that sixteen Veterans will be sent letters offering credit protection services.…

Issue: A VA employee requested a copy of his sensitive access log as he felt his ex-girlfriend may have been accessing his VA records without proper authorization. A review of the log identified the ex-girlfriend who is also a VA employee…

Outcome: 09/18/14: The Incident Resolution Service Team determined that the Veteran will receive a HIPAA letter of notification, since the ex-girlfriend intentionally accessed the record.…

Issue: An employee at the Wichita VAMC had been receiving scanned documents in his email in Outlook. The emails were meant for employees of the Atlanta VAMC. The protected health information (PHI) included full name, SSN, DOB and medical history. The…

Outcome: 09/18/14: The Incident Resolution Service Team has determined that no data breach has occurred. The equipment never left VA control. While there was an unauthorized disclosure, there is a low risk of compromise.…