New Mexico VA Health Care System

Issue: Veteran A notified the facility personnel that he had received incorrect copy of another Veteran's (Veteran B) appointment information and was returning it to the VA. Veteran A was upset at mishandling and did not want his data mis-handled in…

Outcome: 09/08/14: The Incident Resolution Service Team has determined that Veteran B will be sent a letter offering credit protection services.…

Issue: Employee self-reported to Supervisor that she had asked a fellow-employee to access information on discharge status of estranged husband for her personal knowledge. Supervisor reported information mishandling/inappropriate access to facility Privacy Officer and has taken appropriate Human Resources (HR) action…

Outcome: 08/20/14: The Incident Resolution Service Team has determined that the husband will be sent a notification letter.…

Issue: A medical record was accessed by a relative outside of his/her job duties. The relative whose information was accessed was also a VAMC employee.…

Outcome: Data not available.

Issue: It was reported to the Privacy Officer by a Nurse Manager that she had found and picked up loose sheets of folded paper which contained a listing of patients being seen-assigned to one of the medical resident teams. A total…

Outcome: 08/13/14: The Privacy Officer is conducting a fact-finding. 08/19/14: Twenty-seven (27) patients will receive HIPAA notification letters due to PHI being exposed.…

Issue: A folder containing multiple patients information including full names, SSN's, and other medical information was found in a ladies' restroom on the first floor of Bldg. 41 and brought to the HIMS/HAS Chief Record's Manager. Preliminary review of the folder…

Outcome: 08/01/14: The Privacy Officer reports that this was found in a public restroom in one of the main lobby areas of the medical center. It was found at approximately 4:00 PM on 07/30/14. At this point of the investigation, the…

Issue: A Clerk in Release of Information Section released 7332 information without appropriate authority via fax to community provider's (requestor's) office. The requestor called the Release of Information Office and demanded that we stop the fax transmission because it was a…

Outcome: 07/16/14: The Incident Resolution Service Team has determined that the Veteran will be sent a HIPAA notification letter due to Protected Health Information (PHI) being disclosed.…

Issue: Veteran A placed call to facility Pharmacist to report that he had received UPS delivered medications from our facility which also included medications and medication insert information for Veteran B. Mis-mailing reported to facility Privacy Officer and arrangements made to…

Outcome: 05/27/14: The Incident Resolution Team has determined that Veteran B will be sent a HIPAA notification letter due to Protected Health Information (PHI) being disclosed.…

Issue: Privacy Officer notified of unauthorized release of information beyond the 'minimum necessary'. Received notification from manager in Release of Information Section documenting that there were two instances of unauthorized medical documentation released on two different Veterans. Request for release was…

Outcome: 05/27/14: The Incident Resolution Team has determined that Veteran A and B will be sent a letter offering credit protection services.…

Issue: Veteran A provided to facility Privacy Officer originals of another Veteran's (Veteran B) laboratory results mistakenly included in same envelope mailed to Veteran A's home address. Laboratory results had been sent by provider to patient to notify of recent results…

Outcome: 05/06/14: The Incident Resolution Team has determined that Veteran B will be sent a HIPAA notification letter due to Protected Health Information (PHI) being disclosed.…

Issue: Veteran B returned a package to the facility Fee-Basis Section noting that information contained in VA mailed envelope had been incorrectly sent to Veteran A (envelope contained information on Veteran B but was mismailed to Veteran A. Original mailed package…

Outcome: 12/10/13: Veteran B will be sent a letter offering credit protection services.…