Desert Pacific Healthcare Network (VISN 22)

Issue: Per the Dental Record Manager Plus a Veterans record was sent to Medical Records for retirement on 04/19/12. Dental requested Medical Records to retrieve the retired record on 10/09/12; however the Veterans CPRS was not annotated with a retired location…

Outcome: A thorough search was conducted to locate the record to no avail. The record may have been sent to NARA for retirement without being properly annotated in the Veteran's record, however this cannot be confirmed. Medical Records and Dental to…

Issue: Possible lost package containing Veteran PHI/PII. Employee mailed, via UPS, CD containing x-rays and other medical information to Johns Hopkins hopsital for second opinion for Veteran, with Veteran authorization. Johns Hopkins claims package was not received. Employee failed to keep…

Outcome: Privacy Officer requires further mailings of CD with patient information to be mailed by the ROI unit to avoid improper mailings. Employee educated on properly mailing by the Privacy Officer. Per the internet no company has moved into the vacant…

Issue: Veteran A had requested a full copy of his medical record through the Release of Information (ROI) Office. When Veteran A received the medical record it included a two page progress note for another Veteran, and a ROI letter for…

Outcome: Training was held with the employee to emphsize the need to keep each individual ROI request and the asscoiated documents separate from other requests to prevent a simialr incident from occuring in the future. it ws also empahsized to check…

Issue: In August 2012, Dental staff performed patient record reviews. Upon completion they placed the records in a box, sealed and marked the box for Medical Records. In September four boxes were picked up from the Dental Office and taken to…

Outcome: Unable to locate the box of missing records. There is a possibility the box was mixed in with other boxes sent to the National Archives and Records Administration for retirement, however this cannot be confirmed therefore must assume the records…

Issue: Veteran A received Veteran B medication bottle, via mail. PII included full name and type of medication. Update: 10/16/12:Veteran B will be sent a notification letter due to Protected Health Information (PHI) being disclosed.…

Outcome: Unable to determine which employee mailed the medication. Staff reminded at staff meeting to double check prior to mailing. Notification letter mailed and uploaded on October 19, 2012.…

Issue: It was reported to the Privacy Officer that an employee had been inappropriately viewing her father's medical record. Update: 11/07/12:One Veteran will be sent a letter of notification.…

Outcome: The employee has been removed from the department; her access has been suspended; and the Chief of the department is taking action against the employee. A letter has been mailed to the Veteran.…

Issue: via mail. Personally Identifiable Information (PII) includes name, address, and medication (controlled substance). Veteran A to return medication back to VA since it is a controlled substance. New medication mailed 10/11/12 to Veteran B. Update: 10/11/12:Veteran B will be sent…

Outcome: Notification letter uploaded and mailed October 15, 2012. Unknown which employee combined medications; all employees reminded to double check prior to mailing medication.…

Issue: A person walked into the File Room area and asked for his own medical chart for a compensation claim. A File Clerk gave the medical chart to the person without identifying who the person was and did not check out…

Outcome: The employee is a newly re-assigned employee that has been restrained by his supervisor and the HIMS Chief. The credit monitoring letter has been signed by the Director and mailed to the Veteran.

Issue: Veteran reported that while taking a public bus a VA laboratory employee got on the bus and begin a conversation about having taken the Veteran's blood work, and then continued to speak with Veteran. Veteran feels her privacy information was…

Outcome: Per the employee they meet at a bus stop, employee asked her where she knew her from, then she remembered and stated to the Veteran "at the VA," the employee claims she did not say it loud or say any…

Issue: A Veteran's wife contacted the VHA Privacy Service via email and reported that her husband received another Veteran's medical records on compact disk. Update: 10/04/12:One Veteran will be sent a letter offering credit protection services due to full name and…

Outcome: The HIMS chief, ROI supervisor, and the employee were notified by the Privacy Officer of this occurrence. The Volunteer will no longer be mailing out any CD's for the ROI clerks, per the HIMS Chief. This will reduce unnecessary mistakes.