Phoenix VA Health Care System

Issue: Veteran B accessed his medical record via MyHealtheVet and discovered Veteran A's information in his medical record under his name.

Outcome: 07/02/14: The Incident Resolution Service Team has determined that Veteran A will be sent a letter offering credit protection services. 07/08/14: PO update - Fact finding has been completed. Veteran A's information has been removed from Veteran B's medical chart.…

Issue: Today, 06/23/14, Employee/Veteran reports this complaint to the Privacy Officer (PO). He had received upon request a Sensitive Patient Access Report (SPAR). His complaint is that his current supervisor accessed his chart without permission or business need on 06/03/14. An…

Outcome: 07/23/14: Absent a patient authorization, the use of Veteran health information for employment related activities constitutes a wrongful use/disclosure and is subject to disciplinary action. 07/24/14: The Incident Resolution Service Team determined that the Employee will receive a HIPAA letter…

Issue: Today, 06/23/14, Veteran reports Privacy complaint to the Privacy Officer (PO). He received care in an outpatient clinic last week when he says he was provided with a document for another Veteran. He did not notice this until he got…

Outcome: 07/13/14: No documents have been returned to date. Will revisit this with the reporter to see if the Veteran's materials were recovered. 09/24/14: The Incident Resolution Service Team determined that the Veteran whose information was mishandled will receive a letter…

Issue: Today, 06/05/14, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Officer reported a privacy incident to Privacy Officer (PO), identified when logging deceased Veteran disclosures performed in another area. (Deceased protected health information (PHI) disclosures are FOIA cases). There were seven (7)…

Outcome: 06/06/14: The Incident Resolution Team determined that the next of kin (NOK) of the seven deceased Veterans will receive a NOK letter.…

Issue: On, 06/04/14, the Pharmacy Manager reported a privacy incident to the Privacy Officer (PO). Veteran B stopped in the Pharmacy to inquire why his medication dosing had changed. Review of the bottle by supervisor shows that despite same controlled medication…

Outcome: 06/05/14: The Incident Resolution Team determined that bothe Veterans will receive a HIPAA letter of notification since their protected health information (PHI) was compromised.…

Issue: On March 21, 2014, Clinical Research Coordinator consented two research subjects. The Informed Consent Form and HIPAA Authorization that had been pre-populated by the Coordinator for Subject 2 to sign was mistakenly given to Subject 1. Every page of both…

Outcome: 06/04/14: The Incident Resolution Team has determined that Subject 2 will be sent a letter offering credit protection services due to full name and DoB being disclosed.…

Issue: Today, 5/30/2014, Veteran reports privacy incident to PO. He returned medical records of another Veteran, received from this facility by mail in late 2013. Veteran had requested his own medical records but received both sets of records. Veteran does not…

Outcome: 06/02/14: The Incident Resolution Team has determined that Veteran B will be sent a letter offering credit protection services.…

Issue: On 05/28/14, the Pharmacy Supervisor reported that Veteran B received a medication by mail for Veteran A. Veteran B reported this to the SE Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) on 05/27/14, his scheduled appointment date. Medication and documents were recovered,…

Outcome: 05/29/14: The Incident Resolution Team determined that Veteran A will receive a HIPAA letter of notification since his medication information was compromised.…

Issue: On 05/28/14, the Pharmacy Supervisor reported that Veteran B received one or two medications for Veteran A. Veteran B reported this to the helpdesk on 05/23/14. Medications for Veteran A are being re-processed. Attempts to retrieve the prescriptions and educational…

Outcome: 05/29/14: The Incident Resolution Team determined that Veteran A will receive a HIPAA letter of notification.…

Issue: Today, 5/23/2014, Social Work reported to PO that a staff member exchanged unencrypted PHI with Veterans mother by email. Email string documents conversations between staff and Veterans mother which she initiates. The Veterans medical status and prognosis was provided including…

Outcome: 05/23/14: The Incident Resolution Team has determined that the Veteran will be sent a HIPAA notification letter due to Protected Health Information (PHI) being disclosed.…