Clement J. Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center

Issue: Subpoena for records was issued by a private attorney for the matters of a court case. No authorization from the defendant (the patient whose information was disclosed) was provided, and no court-issued subpoena was obtained. Was found by Benefits Intern…

Outcome: 12/11/13: The patient will receive a letter offering credit protection services.…

Issue: (Patient A has same last name, gender, and last 4 of SSN as Patient B) Patient A reports to Patient Advocate that she has been receiving Patient B's Beneficiary Travel pay and other as this time unknown information since 2006.…

Outcome: 11/25/13: Patient B will be sent a HIPAA notification letter due to Protected Health Information (PHI) being disclosed.…

Issue: Patient A was given Patient B's hospital discharge instructions upon discharge by mistake. Was not discovered until several days later by Patient A's family when under the belief that the dx within the document pertained to Patient A. Patient B…

Outcome: 11/21/13: Patient B will be sent a letter offering credit protection services.…

Issue: Due to UPS label mix-up in the warehouse, Veteran A's medication was mailed to Veteran B, and Veteran B's medication was mailed to Veteran A. Neither medication was for a 38 USC s. 7332 condition.…

Outcome: 10/28/13: Veteran A and B will be sent a notification letter.…

Issue: Veteran A's medications were incorrectly mailed to Veteran B. Medications were not controlled substances or for any 38 USC s. 7332 conditions. Only information on medication label was Veteran A's name and the medication name.…

Outcome: 10/28/13: Veteran A will be sent a notification letter.…

Issue: Employee's DNR application including disability questionnaire was found in women's bathroom off main hallway of a floor in the facility. VA Physician completed the form, handed it over to an MSA to have it faxed. After fax, application was not…

Outcome: 10/11/13: The employee will be sent a notification letter.…

Issue: Patient/Employee's ex-husband was contacted during her inpatient stay. Information regarding discharge planning and diagnosis were relayed to ex-husband both during Patient/Employee's stay and end of stay (2 day stay). Though registration shows that ex-husband was still listed as next of…

Outcome: 09/30/13: It is not known why the ex-husband was contacted. The employee stated that she changed her next of kin information in January and was surprised to learn that her ex-husband was still listed. The ex-husband has threatened to use…

Issue: Veteran A came to his clinic and stated that he received a letter from the VAMC that contained Veteran B's information. The letter contained Veteran B's name, address, date of birth, diagnosis, and last four digits of the SSN.…

Outcome: 09/18/13: Veteran B will receive a letter offering credit protection services.…

Issue: Veteran A who is a patient in one of our facility's domiciliary was given an insulin shot that had Veteran B's name on it. No other information was disclosed to Veteran A. The Nurse immediately took the incorrect shot from…

Outcome: 08/15/13: Veteran B will be sent a notification letter.…

Issue: VA Employee released D/C summary of patient to life insurance company based on authorization signed by HCPOA. At the time of the release through present, there is no information on file that HCPOA has been activated due to patient being…

Outcome: 08/01/13: The patient will receive a HIPAA letter of notification.…