Mountain Home VA Medical Center

Issue: Social Work Service (SWS) sends informational articles via email to Veteran's home care givers that have provided their email. The SWS has listed the names/emails under BCC to protect their individual email address. On Friday April 11, she mistakenly added…

Outcome: 04/14/14: The Incident Resolution Team has determined that no data breach has occurred. No Protected Health Information or Personally Identifiable Information was disclosed.…

Issue: Veteran returned double stuffed envelope to the information desk. The information for two Veterans with same name was put in the same envelope and mailed to one. Both Veterans were seen at the Sevierville Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC).

Outcome: 03/14/14: The Incident Resolution Team has determined that the Veteran whose health information was disclosed will be sent a HIPAA notification letter.…

Issue: A Veteran was admitted and $431 in cash and his Bank debit card was secured by nursing staff in a valuables envelope, sealed and placed in the Emergency Department safe. The Veteran was discharged and requested his valuables back. Neither…

Outcome: 02/11/14: Veteran A will be sent a letter offering credit protection services.…

Issue: Pharmacist received a call from Veteran A stating that he had received medications from this facility. The pharmacist reviewed the patient's profile and medication list. There were no medications for the caller. The Veteran was asked for the prescription number.…

Outcome: 02/05/14: Veteran B will receive a HIPAA letter of notification.…

Issue: Release of Information received a phone call from Veteran stating that he had received a CD in the mail with another Veteran's information. The Veteran returned the CD today and was given a new CD. The original CD was labeled…

Outcome: 02/04/14: Veteran B will be sent a notification letter.…

Issue: A Veteran's daughter called. The Veteran had requested a copy of his medical records to take with him on vacation July 2013. There was no need to open the envelope as there were no incidents for use. The Veteran expired…

Outcome: 02/03/14: Veteran B will be sent a letter offering credit protection services.…

Issue: A (wrong providers) social security number was entered on one of our contract providers pay system. I was just informed this morning, but apparently fiscal and HR have been working on this since August 2013. Local fiscal and DFAS says…

Outcome: 01/20/14: The other provider will receive a letter offering credit protection services.…

Issue: Automated Med Safe Event record was alerted to facility's Medication Safety email group. Pharmacy and Patient Safety are members of the group. Privacy Officer was notified that report revealed patient received correct medication but paperwork belonged to another Veteran…

Outcome: 12/27/13: The Veteran will be sent a notification letter.…

Issue: Pharmacy personnel was auditing the pending prescriptions. When the check and balance was performed, it was noted that a pending prescription had been filled and mailed. The mail outs were double checked and it was discovered that one Veteran's medication…

Outcome: 09/12/13: One Veteran will be sent a notification letter.…

Issue: The Union on behalf of employee mailed an appeal package to the Undersecretary of Health. The package contained progress notes of one Veteran. When the Director's Office received a copy of the package, they realized that the full patient identifying…

Outcome: 06/16/13: The Veteran will receive a letter of notification due to Protected Health Information being disclosed.…